Big Evil in Little China
by Numen Like Water
Summary: Taylor Hebert moves into Chinatown. Lung and Oni Lee must investigate mysterious murders in their apartment complex while dealing with the struggles of everyday life and the hidden traumas of their past. Grace has a chip on her shoulders and can't deal with the insanity of her new gang, but fortunately she found another white girl to share the experience with.
1. White Girl

**Chapter 1: White Girl**

Although no one could have known, the troubles begin on Sunday night, when the white girl moved into the small apartment complex by Tong Ren St. and King St. in the Eastern edge of Brockton Bay Chinatown (otherwise known as "Asian Bad Boyz Territory").

The white girl was a lithe and lanky creature, with a mouth too wide and eyes too wide, and the more Annie Kim looked at her, the more it became obvious that she was underage. Annie wasn't racist- she had a healthy dose of ethnic nationalism, but that was curbed a bit thanks to Lung's "Pan-Asian" platform. Personally she was a bit skeptical of the ABB gangleader's message, afterall, didn't grandpa use to talk about how the Japanese tried to justify their conquest of Asia with that whole "South-East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere"? She kept her doubts to herself of course, it's no good voicing such dangerous things to Lung. He has no problems hurting women. Everybody knew about The Farm- bad and disobedient girls ended up there. Or if you're not Asian.

She watched the foreigner approach, dragging two large suitcases behind her. She wore jeans and her white wife beater hugged her thin frames, her bra showing through the thin fabric.

Annie could almost imagine her as a skinny Asian gangbanger with tattoos- almost. But she was too white and her hair obviously too feminine for that image to stick. She plastered on a fake smile for the foreigner and tried to greet her. There was no point being rude- even white people, Empire sympathizers the whole lot of them are- deserved hospitality. Wang-Obasan was very clear about that- but she was Taiwanese, so who knows what weird things she believed in?

"Sup, white girl. You a new tenant?"

White girl fixed her blank eyes on her- there was something dark and creepy about them. Something painful too. Annie had seen a few times in some of the boys and the ABB gang members (which was most of the boys to be fair).

She'd seen a good deal of eyes like that on some of the nightwalkers and Merchant scums too. She decided that the white girl was definitely hooked on something. She's probably a former merchant victim or hoe or something.

The white girl nodded and muttered a short reply.

"Yeah. Name's Taylor."

Annie nodded respectfully and watched the girl rang up the elevator. There was an awkward silence as she waited for the white girl to wait for her elevator. Now wasn't that a tongue twister?

At fucking last, the elevator doors opened with a ding and the white girl- Taylor, she had to remember was her name- dragged both of her giant suitcases in, passing by a hulk of a man stepping out. His tanned skin and bulging muscles meant that he was obviously a gangmember.

The man glanced at the white girl but dismissed her with a snort. The ABB wasn't specifically racist against white people per say, it's just that Asians come first. That was the creed. As long as white girl- Taylor- kept her head down and pay her rent, it was all good. Step out of line and bad things was going to happen to that skinny ass. Annie was honestly too jaded to care, besides, her mind was occupied by the familiar man.

Annie quickly made sure her hair was tidied and she greeted the man with a big smile.

"Hey Kenta! Looking good."

He glanced over with a disinterested gaze and nodded, "Annie."

Then he stalked off to Heaven knows where. Probably to smoke a joint. Annie sighed dreamingly, forgetting all about white girl.

She would only recall the first white girl when the second white girl, some half-blood snotty bitch by the name of Grace moved in later that week.

* * *

Tuesday afternoon, Wang-Obasan complained loudly to Annie that her Cat, Mr. Mimi, was missing.

"Aiya! Aiya!"

Annie looked up to see a distraught looking Wang-Obasan waddling down the hallway, looking East and West in a panic.

"Wang-Obasan, what's the matter?"

Junpei, a nearby ABB gangbanger who was smoking with his upper half leaning out on the balcony that formed the outer walls of the hall turned around in concern.

"Mr. Mimi is missing!"

Annie gasped. Mr. Mimi was all that was left of Wang-Obasan's late husband. She hurried over and patted the anxious older lady on the back.

"I'll help you look for him."

She looked up and stared at Junpei.

"What?"

"You should help too!"

"It's just a cat."

Annie glared at him.

Junpei snorted and ignored the Korean girl and the Taiwanese granny. Whatever. He was a warrior of the ABB- finding missing cats wasn't part of his responsibilities.

"Junpei."

He jumped at the voice and glanced over at the hulking form of Kenta.

Kenta tilt his head towards Wang-Obasan and Annie Kim and growled.

"Help Obasan find her cat. Be a man."

Junpei wanted to argue, but self-preservation instincts kicked in. The bastard was way out of Junpei's weight-class and higher on the pecking order, so he had no choice but to comply.

"Yes…Kenta."

They searched all day, into the evening. Junpei even roped some of the gangbangers lower on the foodchain to help out.

They found a bunch of other cats, and some strays- but there was no hair or tail of the venerable Mr. Mimi.

* * *

Wang-Obasan prayed at her home shrine to the idols of the righteous Guan Sheng Di Jun (ceramic sculpt of a bearded man in green robes wielding a mighty halberd), Scion the Living Buddha (A porcelain effigy of the World's First Superhero), and the Supreme Virtuous Martyr Prince of Tinkers (A painted wood statue of Hero, rayguns raised).

Nothing came of it.

Obviously her home shrine was too small and Lord Guan was too busy dealing with cosmic concerns (or maybe how to beat the Empire's heathen gods so as to ensure victory for the Asians) to deal with a mortal's pet cat. Scion was busy rescuing other cats and Hero was probably off inspiring Tinkers to invent things. Having rationalized the lack of divine action on the part of the gods, Wang-Obasan walked down the street to the local Joss House and offered up some incense sticks to Tudigong, the elderly and smiling genius loci of Chinatown. He looked just like the Tudigong in Mado township in Tainan Taiwan where she had lived during the first half of her life.

She prayed in Taiwanese Hokkien, "Oh Tudigong, god of the city and of Chinatown, please return Mimi to me, he's all that's left of my late husband. Please, please."

Afterwards, she paid a donation of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents in the alms box, and drew several lots. Her face paled at the prophetic words of Tudigong:

"Evil energies abound. Great Misfortune. Hold fast to righteousness."

* * *

Annie was shocked to hear that Junpei was missing. Kenta came around to ask her about it- but all she knew was that they had split up to look for Mimi. She didn't see him after that and assumed he must have gone home.

"Maybe he's sleeping in?"

Kenta shook his head, "I checked his room-"

Annie didn't quite want to know how Kenta was able to access to Junpei's room.

"- and it was untouched. The bed didn't look like it was slept in. His takeout wasn't touched either."

Kenta turned to Kai Lee, his subordinate and another high ranking member of the ABB and asked, "Did Junpei owe someone money or something? Why'd he skipped out of town?"

"Not that I know, Kenta."

"Curious indeed. Well, check to see if you can find his body- people go missing all the time, but this is right in the heart of our territory. That's concerning."

"Hai, Kenta."

Annie decided she should maybe offer some incense to the gods and pray for Junpei's safe return.


	2. Orientation Day

**Chapter 2: Orientation Day**

Oni Lee gazed down at the mangled corpse of Mr. Mimi in the first floor large garbage can.

"Holy fuck. This was done with a knife." Ando said as he knelt down to check the corpse of the cat. "No offense to you Lee, but I have to ask, did you do this?"

Oni Lee merely glazed at the Ando with unblinking eyes- or seemingly unblinking. It was hard to tell with that demon mask.

Ando sighed and stood up.

"Great. If whatever did this to Mimi was also behind Junpei's disappearance, do you know what that implies?"

Oni Lee stared at Ando. An intellectual giant he was not.

Deciding that an answer was probably not forthcoming, Ando continued with his imitation of a police detective (he watched enough TV to know how it worked).

"It means we have a serial killer. In Chinatown. Probably in this very apartment building. People might panic. Somebody might call the cops. "

Oni Lee finally grasped how bad that was. It meant that the police might get involved. Which meant that the PRT might be involved.

That was not good. Kenta was going to be pissed.

* * *

"You the new girl?"

Grace looked up at the crooked teeth of some Asian jackass who was leering at her wet and dirty lingerie after they stripped the Prison Uniform from her en route to a containment facility for dangerous new triggers.

The Cornell Bomber sneered at 'Jackass' and give him the mantra for good health and happiness, "Fuck you and your mother."

'Jackass' growled and was about to retort, but a rough hand shoved him away from her. A Masked Demon loomed over her.

"New Girl. You are now a member of the Asian Bad Boyz."

"The who?"

The cape tonelessly repeated his statement, "The Asian Bad Boyz."

"Wut."

""The Asian Bad B-"

"No you idiot, I meant I have no idea what the flying cocksucker the Asian Bad Boyz is. Is that some kind of third rate amatuer metal band or some shit? What are you guys even, terrorists? Who the fuck are you, Captain Kabuki?

The cape stared blankly at her, while 'Jackass' was laughing his head off. He stopped laughing suddenly and dropped to the ground while spraying blood all over the room. Captain Kabuki put his knife away.

Grace wiped a patch blood away from her right eye and and grimaced in disgust, "Ewwwww. Fucking nasty. He probably has STDs or some shit."

"Is she awake?"

Captain Kabuki looked behind him and stood up straighter.

"Yes Lung."

A hulking mass of premium man-meat entered Grace's line of sight and she whistled. If Alice Hong or Emma Bradshaw (hoes that they are) saw this guy, they would be lining up outside his dorm room with a hundred bucks in cash clutched in each hand.

The masked hulk with the metal dragon gimmick growled down at her and snorted some smoke (what the fuck?) out of his left nostril.

"I am Lung."

Grace nodded, "Yes. I get that."

"I am Lung."

"Yes. Badly mangled mandarin or hokkien for Dragon. I get that."

Dragon-man pointed towards Captain Kabuki.

"This is Oni Lee."

"Seriously, you're not Captain Kabuki?", somehow, everything that happened the past week or so didn't faze her overtly much, but the fact that Captain Kabuki wasn't actually Captain Kabuki floored her. A sudden though trickled into her consciousness and she couldn't help but run her mouth at the scary-throat-slitting-dimwit, "Fuck, don't tell me your actual real civilian name is Lee."

Oni Lee nodded his head, "Yes. My name is Lee."

Grace stared at him in disbelief.

Lung cleared his throat.

"You work for me now."

Grace narrowed her eyes.

"And if I say no?"

"Then you die."

Grace shivered and clutched her half naked body tighter around her. She thought back to her last conversation with her mother, before she left for Cornell.

 _"You better get perfect marks, top grades. And don't you go run off partying with those other hoes- you know how them white girls be like. And white man are shit too, useless, like your father."_

 _"Fuck you ma, you don't get to dictate my life!"_

 _"I am paying for your education! I am your god!"_

 _"I am going to be more successful and more happy than you'll ever be, you useless woman!"_

Grace looked up at Lung and then over at Oni Lee. They're not white. They're not hoes. So her mom was probably okay with that. But then again, they were also clearly criminals and 'bad boys'. And with a sudden glee, she realized just how much she could shove the finger up her mom's asshole.

She was going to join a fucking gang. Or Terrorist organization. Or the Yanbang. So sue her, she never bothered paying attention to the cape scene and had no idea who the two Asian superpowered freaks were. But she was gonna join them and fuck shit up.

Fuck you ma. I am a gangster. All will fear the name of Gra- no. They will fear the name of BAKUDA!

But she was gonna rebel hard. She smiled and began cackling. The reign of Bakuda was near.

"Okay, I am in. What the fuck do you guys do?"

* * *

Lung closed the car door, seated next to Grace. Oni Lee climbed into the driver's seat in front and revved up the engines. The automobile was some kind of half-illegal humvee, with oversized wheels.

The leather seats was kind of bouncy too and Grace fingered her vintage gas mask and the wife-beater that the Asians seemed to favour around her.

So Ghetto.

"Okay Lung, so what we doing? We going to hit an Empire hideout? I fucking hate Nazis. I mean, everyone does, so-"

Lung held up a hand for silence. He turned to her, Dragon Mask making him look somewhat more menacing in the early morning lighting.

"We going to be going over an average workday for us Parahumans of the ABB. Most of it is just checking up with our various assets and lieutenants, and some of the affiliated minor gangs or gambling dens and brothels that pay homage to us. We gotta show them we're no good mutha bitches and put the fear of the Dragon into them."

Grace just stared at him.

"Oni Lee, let's get started."

* * *

Grace got a firsthand account of the how the Chinatown Hood was ran. It was ghetto as fuck. The Humvee roared down a marketplace full of shoppers who screamed and fearfully backed off.

Oni Lee hopped out of the humvee and gestured for Grace to follow. Lung nodded at her, "Go with Lee and see how we do things."

"Okay, but what about you?"

"I will be sitting in the car, looking menacingly at anyone who looks at me the wrong way. Trust me, it's more effective this way. Sometimes, when I am really lazy, I get Cho- the fat idiot who lives in the apartment block you'll be staying at- to wear my mask and pretend to be me. Somehow, nobody notices the difference."

Grace stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief, and silently slipped out of her seat and followed Oni Lee into the Hong Kong styled eatery.

The owner, a Mr. Chai was whimpering in terror. His customers had long since fled.

Lee walked right up and punched Chai in the guts. The older man gasped and dropped to his knees.

Lee grabbed him by the scruff of his shirts and lifted him up.

"You peddling Empire drugs in Chinatown. It doesn't suit Asians well, we don't use that clean shit. We ghetto as fuck. So you giving some of the boys the runs when they run to the toilet. You understand what I am saying."

Chai babbled something in Cantonese and Lee punched him in the jaw and roared angrily, "Speak English, you goddamned chink! I don't get your gobbledygook!"

Grace stared at Oni Lee in confused outrage.

Finally the Demon dropped the bleeding and crying Chai on the ground.

"You buy China White from now on. Come by the warehouse at Hong Street and pick up a packet. We'll charge you only two-hundred percent more than usual. This time. Next time, we slit your throat. Bitch."

He kicked him and walked out, gesturing for Grace to follow.

"Where did you learn to talk like that? I thought you were...mentally disabled," Grace asked.

Oni Lee shrugged. "I saw it on a Hong-Kong gangster flick once. It comes easily now."

The half-Asian woman was nearly catatonic at the admission.

* * *

The Humvee crashed through the warehouse doors and Asians scrambled backwards in fear. A few scantily clad women screamed in fear.

When the dust settled, they could see Oni Lee in the driver's seat and the glowing eyes of Lung staring at them from the back seat. Some gas mask wearing bitch was sitting next to him. Most wrote her off as Lung's new squeeze.

Lung spoke from the backseat.

"You guys been fucking hoes. That's fine. Real men fuck hoes, that's natural."

The gasmask bitch twitched.

"But you've been fucking hoes that aren't mine."

Everyone froze in terror.

"Those hoes-" The Dragon of Kyushu gestured at the assortment of white, Asian and black prostitutes scattered around the warehouse,"- work for me now. I will be sending a new pimp to usher them to one of my brothels."

He then stood up.

"As for you unfaithful lecherous bastards, you'll all be fined $1000 each. Be sure to fuck Lung-certified hoes from now on. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Bring me the pimp who's running this place."

There was some jostling and finally some middle-aged guy was shoved to the front.

Lung chuckled.

"Mr. Luo. You do this to me? I bought you Wonton Soup. I had tea with your mother!"

Luo gulped audibly and wiped a chubby hand over his sweating forehead.

"L-lung. M-m-boy! Uh, I was expanding your operations for you."

Lung nodded and gestured to the unmoving gas-mask girl.

"Bakuda. Time to prove your worth. Blow this motherfucker up."

Before Mr. Luo could so much as blink, a metal orb was shoved down his mouth and the gas-mask girl was climbing back into the Humvee.

"Fuck this shit Lung, I am ready for dinner. Let's go. You two are insane."

Luo blew up before he could get a word in.

* * *

"And this is where you will be living."

The crumbling, dilapidated apartment complex was a sore point to Grace's eyes. Her mother was relatively wealthy. She came from a good part of town in a well developed city. She went to a good University.

This shit she was staring at was like staring at Michael Croft's hairy balls.

"Fuck this shit. I deserve better than this run-down ghetto crap!"

"It's Chinatown," Lee piped in. "That should explain everything."

Lung nodded, "Besides, we live here. Are you telling me the House of the Dragon is somehow unbefitting of a lowly mortal like you?"

Grace grumbled loudly.

"Come on, hoe, let's go."

"I am not a hoe."

"All women are hoes before the Dragon."

Oni Lee parked the Humvee in a out of the way garage and stretched his arms.

"I am going to sleep."

Lung nodded.

"Don't sleep too long, we have investigations to do tonight."

Grace blinked in confusion.

"Investigations?"

"Some serial killer is stalking the residents of the building. So far we have one missing man and two missing small animals."

Grace stared at the two of them.

"What the actual fuck!?"

Lung threw her a key which she caught.

"Key to your room. Don't lose it. Don't follow us. When we trust you, we will reveal our civilian identities to you. Stay down and don't cause problems."

Grace could only nod as the two men stalked off into the evening light.

* * *

Grace pushed the key into her lock and turned. There was an affirming click, and she pushed the door open.

"Okay. Even my shit dorm-room wasn't this shit."

She hefted her gym bag which she had stashed her costume and mask in and was about to waltz in when a female voice called out to her.

"Oh, you the new girl?"

Grace turned around and came face to face with the dead sorrowful eyes of some crazy tall white bitch in a wife-beater (what was with the wife-beaters?).

"Hi. Name's Taylor. What's your name?"

Grace just stared at her. She closed her eyes and groaned.

"No fucking way. Are you telling me they segregated white people together? I am not even full white! This place is so racist it's not funny!"

Taylor just stared at her for a bit and she smiled and chuckled.

"You're new to Brockton Bay aren't you?"

Grace sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Name's Grace."

"Nice to meet you Grace. Us white hoes should stick together huh?"

"I am not a hoe."

"Chillax, it's a figure of speech."


	3. Escalation

**Chapter 3: Escalation**

Grace sneezed violently at the dust flying everywhere in the single room dorm. There was a dirty cubicle that doubled as a toilet. Thank god it had seats and everything, because she had half-expected one of those squat-down-to-shit toilets you'd find in Asia.

Footsteps sounded behind her and she spun around, hands clutching for grenades that wasn't there.

Shit, left it in my bag. She was not making that mistake again. Thankfully, it was only her next door neighbour, the other white girl; Taylor.

"Fuck! You gave me quite the scare there, Taylor."

The younger girl had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. I was bored and decided to come visit. I should've knocked, but you didn't close the door properly."

Grace nodded and looked back at the table she was trying to dust off. "It's fucking nasty in here. You'd probably be better off back in your own room."

"I can help."

Grace stared at her.

Taylor stared back, eyes determined.

"Why?" Grace all but spat at the other girl.

She knew that wasn't something a nice person says the moment the words left her mouth, but just a week ago, Grace was holding her University hostage and blowing up classrooms, so she figured it couldn't damage her conscience anymore than it was already.

Taylor didn't look fazed, but for moment, her eyes became alive.

"Because I don't have any friends here. I mean, I tried talking to Annie, but I don't think she likes me...or my skin colour...very much."

For just a moment, Grace saw herself in Taylor. Young. Alone. Bullied. Troubled home life probably, because why else would a teenage girl be living by herself in gang territory? Sure that was fairly common, but teenage white girls living in the heart of Asian gang territory? That was definitely not normal.

It goes without saying that Taylor probably didn't have friends, period. Because if she did, she would be slumming with her friends and not toughing it out in gangland.

Grace could only really say one thing now.

"Okay. You can help. But…"

She pointed towards the bathroom.

"You're cleaning the toilet."

Taylor scowled and flipped her the finger. "Fuck you."

"You can't afford me, Tay." Grace sniped right back.

It was the beginning of a wonderful not-quite-friendship.

* * *

Kenta slammed the door shut, locked it- both locks- and tore off his wife beater before sanking down on his comfy lay-z-boy. There was no need to flick on the light, his enhanced night vision was superior enough.

He groaned and stretched his neck. That was a hard day- and it's been awhile since he had that much fun confusing a new recruit. He chuckled and thought about the shenanigans and mind blowing revealations he would heap upon Grace tomorrow.

He glance at the clock with the classic Bagua design at the top of the wall, ticking silently in the night. Nine 'O Clock. He still got time before he has to go sniff around and try to catch a probable serial killer.

Kenta has seen enough movies and read enough mangas to know that a missing person, a missing cat, and a missing rooster meant that a psycho killer was nearby. The bird in question belonged to Mr. Zhao, who ran a chicken farm next door, operated out of his backyard. Technically it was against city-by-law, but this was Chinatown, so the city can go fuck itself. Of course, precisely because it was Chinatown, Mr. Zhao immediately complained to Kenta who then theoretically "reported" the situation to Lung, who was the defacto mayor and police of Chinatown.

Such was the duties of the Dragon.

Deciding maybe some TV was in order, he picked up the remote and flick on the antique cathode-ray tube powered television. The pre-tinker quality hurts the eyes to look at. Kids these days will never understand.

The Godfather was playing on one of the movie channels. He immediately switched the channel.

"I'll leave shill like that to Lee."

Kenta preferred a superior type of entertainment.

Rom-coms. Specifically, Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally. An exciting North Korean drama produced after part of the country was annexed by the C.U.I. after the destruction of Pyongyang. It was probably ironic that Behemoth's destruction of the Kim Regime ended up benefiting the people, and despite the C.U.I's xenophobic tendencies, they allowed South Korean movie directors to use part of North Korea as a glorified hollywood studio. City-sized movie sets were built over what had once been concentration camps.

"There we go. Let's see if Soo Mi finally confesses her love to Amanda." Even though Amanda is married. Spicy. The extremely graphic sex scenes were widely lauded as a landmark television milestone. But Kenta didn't care about that.

He cared about the romance. It reminded him of the sweet innocence (for a given measure of the word) in his youth. Of the carefree days of spring, when hope was still possible, back before Kyushu. Back before the Yàngbǎn. Before the Woman in Black. Before Lung. Back when life made sense, and the hero always get the girl. But real life didn't work like that.

In real life, the hero loses the war, the girl was forced to leave and when they meet again, she had married someone else and then everything sucked so much it actually hurts.

It still hurts. Hurts that don't heal.

He sighed. Life sucks. But it was life. Something many don't even have anymore, especially his friends and family on Kyushu.

And he have a duty to his people and to the people who chose to call Chinatown their home for however long he ruled. He wasn't running a charity. He wasn't even really running a business. There was no lofty goal or ideal to thrive towards unlike the Empire. There wasn't the total anarchy of the Merchants. Or the heroic ideals of the PRT.

For the Asian community, always it was about protecting themselves from a hostile and uncaring universe. A sentiment Kenta knew all too well.

He was just delaying. Delaying the end of everything.

And he was content with that.

On screen, Soo Mi grabbed Amanda and kissed her, much to the latter's shock.

Kenta grinned.

* * *

Kai Lee put away his costume and closed the closet. Wearing nothing but a boxer, the Demon of Brockton Bay ambled over and sat down on his prized wooden stool. He fondled his hairy mustache, absently chastising himself for forgetting to shave again.

Back straight, the Taiwanese man gazed blankly at his high definition forty-two inch plasma screen television. Real men invest in good appliances- the advertisements said so.

He cleared his throat and spoke monotonously.

"Siri, turn on the TV."

An equally monotonous voice replied. "Yes, Kai."

Let's see what was on...

"Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally?" Kai grimaced in disgust. That was for weak wall flowers and teenage girls. This was according to the gangster movies he watched.

"Siri, change the channel. Show me something educational."

"Searching. 2,710 Results found. Top result; Scion documentary."

"No. Something violent."

"Based on previous viewing patterns...top recommendation...Godfather."

Kai nodded. Yes. That was always worth rewatching.

There was something very wrong with him, but watching movies help. He often forget how to act around other people. But he was Oni Lee. And Oni Lee was a gangster.

So he should act like a gangster.

It just made sense.

The Godfather spoke on TV. "...don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."

Kai nodded and repeated after Michael Corleone. "Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."

He was going to use that line the next time.

* * *

"Charge me double will they- for this ghetto shit! Fuck!"

Mr. Chai threw the packet of shit heroin, China White onto one of the tables with his still working arm. His other arm was in a cast and his shins hurt like hell. He scowled angrily as he stared at his empty restaurant with one eye. The other eye was black, bruised badly and was now swelling dangerously despite the bandage and the medicine he applied earlier.

Business was going to be bad for days now and the clients who he had been smuggling Empire drugs to would no doubt have moved on to another provider by now- cause Oni Lee's beating had been quite public and everyone in town knew now.

"Fuck!" He screamed again into the night. He didn't care if the neighbours hear and go running to Lung. They didn't have the balls nor the will to interfere anyway. The streets was empty at this time of the night, nobody was out and about unless they were committing a crime. Or stopping one.

He feared the Dragon of Kyushu and his pet Demon. He really did. But sometimes it was easy to forget that they were cutthroat and merciless. He would watch them drive around in their Humvee, acting like retarded grade school kids imitating Godfather and he forgot how dangerous they really are.

The hand of the dragon was light- it was barely felt actually by those who lived under its protection. But for those "in the business", whether that was running one of Lung's brothels or distributing drugs produced by University dropouts under his employee, if you were part of his "company", you don't get away with corporate espionage. Not now. Not ever.

A Dragon has his pride. Chai understood that. But it was not only dragons that have pride. A Dim Sum Chef from Hong Kong also had pride.

The chimes he tied to his door rang and heavy footsteps could be heard entering his eatery.

Thud thud thud. Each step made a chill go down Chai's spine. He heard the stories. He saw the footages. He heard of the questionable casualties. He knew what the killing machine behind him was capable of towards criminals.

It stopped behind him.

He turned and found that his mouth was dry.

Parting his cut lips, he managed to utter, "A-armsmaster. You..uh... came."

The hero's response was swift. Mechanical. Efficient. And the voice was stone-cold.

"Wunlung Chai. You said you had information?"

The two red eyes glowed in the dark and mechanical servos whirled as the local Protectorate Leader regarded the packet of heroin on the table.

"That is illegal to possess."

Chai nodded. "Yes. But it was necessary, they forced me to buy it."

"So I've heard."

"I know where-"

The Hero's voice was harsh. And impatient. "I am well aware of where The Warehouse is located Mr. Chai. Everyone does."

Struggling to contain his fear, Chai babbled. "Wait. You don't understand. I know where he lives. I know where Lung lives. I know who he is!"

There was a moment of silence.

"That's against the unwritten rules."

Chai looked up at the two red eyes and spoke. "B-but you don't care do you?"

Silence.

Chai stuttered as he spoke very quickly. "L-look, you don't have to attack him in his can call him out- in his own territory, in his very own residence, he won't be able to refuse. H-he has to save face in front of everyone!"

Silence. And then…

"Tell me more."

Chai grinned. And told him everything he knew.

* * *

Armsmaster unclenched his hand and Chai dropped to the ground, his throat utterly crushed.

He stared at dead man and said, "You're right. I don't care about the rules. But neither do you."

Pointing his halberd at the corpse, a stream of fire exploded from the tip and incinerated the body and spread quickly to the nearby tables and up the wall.

The hero spun around and marched out. He didn't rode his bike here- too recognizable and it would invite too many questions from Piggot. Instead, he engaged his armour's stealth features and became nothing more than a haze, virtually invisible in the night.

He had plans to make.

He used his eye to reopen his communications unit and immediately Dragon spoke up.

"Colin! Where were you?"

"I was trying to meet with a deep cover contact, had to turn off all comms for him to agree to talk. However, it seemed like someone knew and they set fire to his residence before I got here. He's likely dead."

"Damn."

He felt slightly bad lying to Dragon, but he wasn't going to pull any punches when he cleans out the ABB for good and it was more efficient that there was no witnesses. He was already on thin ice for use of excessive force, he had to be careful- at least, on camera.

* * *

Fat Cho was the resident chef and worked in the dumpling bar on the first floor of the Tong Ren street apartment complex. Sometimes he doubled as Lung. That was always fun and pays well.

Two white girls had opted to eat here this morning- first customers even- and well...he wasn't racist. Besides they would've been vetted by Lung and if Lung was fine with them, he was fine with them.

"A small beef dumpling please." Ordered the older one- and by older, Cho meant that she had curves and would give boys wet dreams with a stare.

The younger skinnier girl ordered a vegetarian dumpling. Large size. Skinny brat probably had good metabolism and never need to diet- Cho was almost jealous.

"Coming right up." The balding chef went to the kitchen in the back and opened the heavy freezer as he tried to grab a bag of dumplings.

And he screamed when he saw Annie Kim's stiff body hanging naked from the ceiling by red plastic cords, face blue from suffocation.

His customers ran into the kitchen at his scream and gasped in shock.

"Holy shit!" The older one yelled.

The younger one gave a startled cry and said, "Oh no. Not again!"

* * *

A/N: I hope that my depiction of Armsmaster wasn't too radical. We knew that in canon he was already very capable of murdering people in cold blood, during the Endbringer Truce no less.


	4. Chinatown Procedural

**Chapter 4: Chinatown Procedural**

ABB gang members lined both sides of the derelict apartment that has been formed into a makeshift courtroom. The Asian warriors wore white wife beaters and had scarves of red and green- they wielded stainless steel pipes and baseball bats.

Ando roared. "All hail for the honourable Lord Lung, county magistrate of the Brockton Bay Chinatown Area.＂

The gang members roared and began to bang their weapons on the concrete floor, creating echoes around the hall.

Ando raised an arm and the hall became silent. He spoke again.

"Bring in the accused!"

Oni Lee smacked a brass gong with a wooden spatula. GOOOOONG. There was a mighty clang as the sound echoes all around.

Gang Members pushed the large double doors open and dragged in a bound Taylor, Fat Cho and Grace, who struggle in their restraints. Grace was the most agitated, while Cho and Taylor were somewhat mellow.

Grace roared angrily, "Unhand me you peasant, don't you know who I am!?"

Cho merely sighed and muttered underneath his breath, "Here we go again. Everytime something happens in my restaurant."

Taylor merely stared straight ahead, at the large mahogany desk at the end of the Hall. The masked visage of Lung sat behind a grand throne behind that mighty desk. Behind him, the Chinese Characters, "Great Dragon Under the Heaven" was displayed proudly upon a carved banner.

Grace growled, "Do you fuckers know who I am, and Lung, what the hell!?"

"Kneel!'

An ABB gang member shoved a struggling Grace to her knees and snarled at her. "That's right bitch, kneel!"

Cho and Taylor did not resist.

Lung spoke for the first time.

"Fat Cho...whatever your surname was. Taylor...Hebert. And Grace Ozawa- wait, are you related to that pornstar?"

"What!? No!….at least...I don't think so."

Lung chuckled and raised a reassuring hand, "It wasn't her real name anyway. Jeez, that there is anything wrong with-"

"Dammit, Lung!" Grace all but shouted, "Why are you doing this to me!?"

Lung growled, his eyes glowing. "If you speak out of turn again, you're going to be punished!" He stroked an imaginary beard sagely as he continued. "In court, there must be etiquette."

Ando bowed his head and agreed, "Well said my lord! Well said."

"This isn't funny, Lung!" Grace was not amused at this joke of a court. Something that was straight out of a cheap Chinese historical drama.

Lung roared and smacked his hand against his desk, his whole body quivering with restrained fury. "How dare you!? Ten smacks on the bum!"

He drew a wooden token- inscribed on it was the Chinese characters, "Ten Smacks on the Bum"- and threw it onto the floor with a bang.

Ando roared, "So the command has been issued, so it shall be done."

Two ABB gangsters stalked over to Grace and shoved her to the ground.

"What are you do- HOLY FUCKING SHIT! AAAAGH!"

The two raised their pipes and began to beat on the girl's buttocks and lower legs. After exactly ten smacks on the bum, they desisted and allowed a groaning Grace to get back up on a kneeling position.

"Holy fuc-"

Lung interrupted her tirade. "Do you need more smacks on the bum Miss Ozawa, or are we good?"

Grace remained silent, but glared at the stoic gang leader.

"If we're all done, let us review the case. Cho-

Taylor raised a hand. There was a moment of silence as some of the ABB members marveled at the sheer balls that the girl must possessed. Some gripped their pipes tighter in anticipation of another smacking of the bums.

Lung growled and pointed an index finger at the white girl. "Yes, white girl?"

"You said that you're an Imperial Magistrate? Isn't that only applicable in the C.U.I?"

Lung gestured at Ando who immediately produced a document sealed in a glass display case. He brought it towards the kneeling suspects so they could lean in and look at it.

It was all written in Chinese. Which Grace could apparently read, because she began to recite it out loud.

"By the authority of his divine majesty, The Emperor of the Chinese Union Imperial hereby recognizes [Redacted], codename 'Number Thirty-Nine', as a special agent of the Yangban with the corresponding rank of County Magistrate to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner in the maintenance of Imperial Law and the pursuit of justice. May the Emperor live and reign for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand of ten thousand years. Unauthorized holders of this document is punished with painful death and the immediate execution of extended families. Issued January 1995. License expires... December 2008."

Graced looked up at Lung. "This is expired."

Lung sounded smug as he retorted. "And who's gonna arrest me? The Yangban?"

Taylor coughed. "But this is America. C.U.I. laws don't apply. You don't have jurisdiction."

Lung looked down at her. "Are you a lawyer?"

"No."

"Good. Because as County Magistrate, I am the only qualified lawman here. And I say I am legitimate. This is Chinatown. America has no authority here."

Taylor opened her mouth. Then she closed her mouth. Then she opened her mouth again- but Lung had ran out of patience with their impudence.

"Enough questions! Cho, tell us your story."

Cho wasn't at all surprised by the proceedings thus far and quickly summarized the events of this morning for the court to hear.

"And that's when other people showed up and someone must have reported to you."

Lung nodded. He turned towards Ando and the two whispered furiously back and forth before he seemed to have come to a decision.

"It would appear that there is insufficient evidence to convict the three of you for murder at this time. However, you're all under arrest until we can at least determine your innocence. You are confined to the dungeons, meals are free, but no coffee."

Ando was quick to follow with another: "So it is spoken, so it shall be done!"

Lung drew another wooden token and threw it on the floor. The Chinese Characters stated: "Jailed in Dungeons. With Meal Coupons. Coffee Forbidden."

"Court dismissed!"

"Weiwooooooo!" The ABB gangbangers chanted and slammed their weapons on the concrete floor again. The three suspects were grabbed by six other gangsters who dragged them away out of the hall of Chinatown justice.

* * *

Grace paced in jail and moaned. She was so pissed. That mockery of a trial and their detention was entirely unnecessary. She was Bakuda. Lung knows who she is. What the hell was this farce even!?

She glanced over at the relatively much more calm Taylor, who fidgeted as she sat on the wooden bench of their "jail cell." It was basically an abandoned basement somewhere in the apartment complex.

Taylor looked like she was really worried about something. She kept glancing up.

Grace went over and clasped a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Hey it's gonna be alright. What you so worried about? Leave your stove on or something?"

Because if it wasn't alright, Grace was going to tear Lung a new asshole. Fat Cho was snoring, he didn't seemed worried about it all- so this was probably a common occurrence. Was this seriously how they dealt with crime in Chinatown internally? Report to Lung and get him to sort it out? That did make sense. In a twisted, gangster ghetto sort of way.

Taylor shook her head. "It's nothing. Just worried."

Grace nodded her head, not prying any further. She was probably just nervous because- hello, the Asian supremacist gangsters were holding them hostage. Taylor probably thought they were going to end up in a brothel. Or worse.

There was the thump thump thump of footsteps and suddenly a massive hulk of a man opened the door and walked in, followed by a smaller man. The hulk was wearing a trenchcoat. Grace noticed that the man forgoed a shirt entirely, opting to go topless and showing off his impressive (albeit slightly familiar) dragon tattoo.

She gulped. That was one hot guy. The guy following behind him wasn't too bad on the eyes either, he had a buzzcut and a mustache that looked like he had forgotten to shave for over three months.

The hulk nodded at them. "I am chief inspector Kenta."

He gestured behind him, "And that's my assistant, Lieutenant Lee."

"Uh, are you the police?" Taylor asked.

Cho, now woken by the intruder's entrance, snorted at Taylor's questions.

Kenta chuckled, a deep laugh. His accent had a vague Asian twang to it that somehow made him more attractive. Of course, according to Grace's ovaries, Kenta could be blind and mute and it wouldn't matter.

Shut up ovaries! Just shut up!"

She tried to imagine Michael Croft's hairy balls and immediately became disgusted enough to calm down and pay attention to what the Inspector was saying.

"I am not an American Chief Inspector. I am a Chinatown Chief Inspector, empowered by County Magistrate Lung to carry out criminal investigations as necessary."

Grace gaped at the insanity she was hearing. That didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"You can't do this to me! I am Baku- I mean I am an American Citizen and I have rights."

Kenta snorted. "Legitimate Citizens have rights. It remains to be seen if you are Asian enough."

"What kind of a Nationalistic Liberal crap is that-"

The Inspector held up a hand in a placating gesture. He looked at the three of them. "I am not without a measure of mercy. I will allow one of you to accompany us and help us investigate. I understand that you are an accomplished student of the chemical sciences? Perhaps you can help us, Miss Ozawa."

Grace bit her lips and glanced over at Taylor. The younger girl smiled and patted Grace on the shoulders.

"I trust you to clear our name, Grace. Go!"

She nodded and turned back to Kenta. "Okay. I will help. Even though we're all technically innocent-"

"Confessions can be legally acquired through torture under the Confucian judicial system."

"Uh…" Grace shook her head, resigned at the insanity around her. "You know what. Nevermind. Let's go solve a murder case."

She followed the two lawman out the door and the steel door clanged shut again. Taylor's eyes shifted up towards the ceiling again and she sat back down with a huff.

"God, what a mess."

Fat Cho laughed and tried to reassure her. "It's alright white girl. I've been jailed dozens of times. It will be fine. Lung is strict but fair. If you can handle threats of torture and keep your mouth shut, you actually could get away with murder. This is gangland afterall, however much we pretend Civil Law is actually in effect."

Taylor muttered underneath her breath. "It's not me I am worried about."

* * *

"Okay, so what do we know?"

Ando pointed towards the wheelchair outside the Dumpling Bar entrance. "That thing has some of the plastic cords that hung Annie tied to it."

Grace examined the wheelchair and nodded her head. "Seems like it. Taylor and I saw it this morning, but we didn't pay it much mind."

Kenta nodded and added another clue. "Cho also saw the wheelchair when he opened up the bar, so we can assume that the wheelchair and by extension the murder took place sometime at night."

Kai Lee came back from where he was investigating the stairs. "I found traces of blood- recent- on the stairways."

"Where?"

"All of them, seemed to go up several floors. I am not sure where it originated."

Kenta sniffed the air. Grace thought that was odd- but she was more surprised when Kenta began to walk over towards the stairs, sniffing the whole way. Lee and Ando seemed perfectly unsurprised by this behaviour and followed after the Chief Inspector.

Kenta looked up and gestured at them. "Lee is right, the scent of blood is thick on the stairs. Come on!"

They walked up the flight of stairs, Grace panting the whole way.

"Fucking. Ass. Stairs. Why can't we take the elevator?"

"Obviously, because we wouldn't be able to investigate the blood scent...wait!"

Kenta pointed towards someone's panty that was caught on the branches of a pot of a small tree that someone was growing outside their door.

"I think that's Annie's panties."

"Oh, how do you know?" Ando nudged Kenta on the ribs and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I mean, did you and her-?"

"No! Definitely not!" Kenta denied immediately. He muttered underneath his breath. "Smells like her."

Grace suddenly shouted and drew their attention to the skirt and torn blouse that was scattered up the next flight of stairs. Several footprints seemed to have trampled over the evidence.

Kenta growled, "Stupid residents, stepping over important evidence."

Ando laughed. "It's weird how no one seemed bothered by the fact there was torn women's clothing everywhere."

Grace felt that was kind of disturbing- was Chinatown residents really that jaded?

Kenta was thinking- then he looked up and seemed to squint into a corner of the balcony ceiling. He pointed up and asked Ando. "Hey, is that a camera?"

Ando nodded. "Yeah. There's a couple of those around here."

"We have cameras?"

"Yeah. Lung asked to have them installed."

"Did he? Really?" Kenta asked dubiously.

Ando nodded, "He was especially adamant that multiple cameras were installed outside Cho's dumpling bar….oh shit."

Kenta muttered underneath his breath again. "Dammit Cho. Installing cameras without telling me?"

Outloud he berated Ando. "You didn't think to tell us that there was cameras outside of Cho's bar?"

He smacked the Japanese man on the head and nodded to Lee. "We need those footages. Both the ones along this flight of stairs all the way down to the ground floor and the ones outside of the bar. Go!"

* * *

On the static filled black and white monitor, Annie Kim bent down to tie her shoes when she suddenly looked up. She seemed to jump in fright, mouth open in a sudden scream as a wheelchair barreled into her.

The monitor switched to another camera, this time showing the next set of stairs. A wheelchair roared down the stairs, plastic cords tied to the vehicle and behind was a struggling Annie, whose long legs were kicking in the air as she was slammed repeatedly into the sides of balconies and stone stair edges leaving bloody stains behind.

Another view switch. The wheelchair inexplicably turned sharply around a corner and disappeared underneath another set of stairs, slamming Annie into a clothesline, scattering some granny's underwear everywhere.

The monitor switched again, Annie Kim had lost her clothing, her dress long since torn off of her by being caught in wires, clothes lines and other obstacles. She was raked over several pots of plants, one of which managed to tear off her panties with a branch.

The view changed again- this time showing a slowing wheelchair rolled across the screen to stop outside Cho's dumpling bar, plastic cords fluttering in the wind, but Annie nowhere to be seen.

Grace looked up and turned to stare at the rest of the investigative party. Everyone was staring with their jaws hanging open.

Ando was the first to speak.

"What the fuck."

Kenta rewinded the footage back to the second floor, when the wheelchair dragged a naked Annie around another corner and paused as the wheelchair was entering the view on the ground floor camera.

"Somewhere between the footage of her on the second floor stairs and the ground floor- her body disappeared...and what? Magically reappeared inside the freezer? That doesn't make any sense."

Grace raised a hand. "Not that I think we're jumping ahead a bit too far or anything-"

Her tone was entirely sarcastic. "-But I think maybe we should figure out where the hell the creepy death wheelchair came from. I mean, the ability to turn around multiple flights of stairs is not natural."

Kenta growled in frustration. "Are you sure we don't have any footages of the stair that connects the ground floor and the second floor?"

Lee shook his head. "None. I double checked. I even gave Indian burns to the tech boys responsible. They aren't hiding anything. I think."

At Grace's disbelieving look, Kai Lee felt the need to defend himself further. "They were nerds."

Kenta's eyes suddenly widened. He rewinded the footage again. Second floor corner. Wheelchair entering the view on the ground floor.

Grace was trying to see whatever it was Kenta had apparently found- but she wasn't seeing it.

Kenta pointed towards the timestamp. He rewinded the footage again.

"The timestamp."

Grace gasped.

"Holy shit."

Kenta nodded his head in agreement, eyes wide with disbelief. "When the wheelchair was dragging Annie around the second floor corner, the time was 04:51:07."

He fast forwarded the footage as the wheelchair reached the ground floor.

"When it reached the ground floor, the time was 06:03:29".

"Over a whole hour's difference…" Grace did the math in her head. She turned to Kenta, who was still rewinding the footage.

"What does that mean, Kenta?"

"It means that Annie's body didn't enter the ground floor through the stairs. The Wheelchair took her somewhere else, and then went down to the ground floor a whole hour later- like a murder weapon that was thrown away long after after the deed was done.

Kenta turned to Kai Lee. "Go back to the tech boys. I want the entire footage of the moments between 4:50 AM to 6:05 AM. It this wasn't tampered with- then we have a serious mystery on our hands."

He gestured to Ando. "Check the elevators. That's conceivably the only other conventional way Annie's body could have been brought down to the ground floor."

Grace thought of the bullshit parahumans could do and couldn't help but add. "What about unconventional ways?"

Kenta grimaced. "That's what I am worried about."

With a swoosh of his beige trench coat, the chief inspector stalked out of the security footage room, his team on his heels. They have a killer to catch.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, was really busy for the past couple days. Sorry for the delay.


	5. Annette

**Chapter 5: Annette**

* * *

 ** _THE BROCKTON DAILY_**

 _ **Tragedy and Missing Body of Brockton Hero**_

 **Special Correspondent Sarah Cheng**

 _ **The BBPD announced today that the corpse of Daniel Hebert, the late head of the dockworkers union was missing from the morgue.**_

 _ **"We're working on the case, it could have been simply grave robbers- people who drudge up biomaterial for tinkers or the black market. It's not the first time this has happened in this city." BBPD representative, detective Miles Johnson has stated in today's announcement.**_

 _ **Daniel "Danny" Hebert was a beloved figure with many supporters from the working class. A friend and fellow Dockworker, Tom Shaw stated that Daniel committed suicide a couple weeks ago. An obituary was printed but the cause of death was kept confidential at the time.**_

 _ **"The death of his wife shook him bad and he had a daughter to take care of too. With the stress and financial situation of the Union and the Bay in general, it was probably too much too soon. He probably ignored the fact he had depression and didn't seek help- that's our Danny, always thinking of others instead of himself."**_

 _ **Alan Barnes, senior lawyer of Barnes, Dallons & Kyles is also a close family friend. He was comforting his sobbing daughter who was equally distraught at the news.**_

 _ **"His daughter was my daughter's best friend. I honestly don't know why he did it. He didn't tell anyone anything. I can tell you one thing though, I'll bury whoever stole his body underneath a pile of lawsuits so thick they'll never see the light of day."**_

 _ **Barnes also expressed concern at Hebert's missing daughter, Taylor, 15, who authorities believed ran away from home shortly after Hebert passed.**_

 _ **"We're looking." Detective Johnson assures the public. He has asked that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Taylor Hebert to come forward. "Brockton Bay is a dangerous place for runaways. They could end up sucked into a gang or victimized by the merchants or worse."**_

 _ **For the history of the DWU, see page A5.**_

 _ **For the details of the memorial service to Daniel Hebert, opened to the public at large, see page A2**_

* * *

In an act of mercy, Lung has released Cho and Taylor from jail citing lack of progress on the case.

"He probably wouldn't want to wake up and not have Cho be running the dumpling bar." Kenta explained Lung's real reasoning as he lead the suspects (they were still suspects) down the hall and up the stairs towards the first floor.

Taylor stared at Kenta for a bit, examining his facial features with her uncharacteristically expressive eyes.

"You're a good man, Kenta."

Grace choked on the soymilk she was drinking.

Kenta started laughing. "So I convinced Lung. I can so do that. I am his kind-of-second in command. Besides, I want dumpling just as much as he does for breakfast."

"That doesn't actually explain why the white girl got let out too." Taylor continued.

Grace sighed. A smart person wouldn't ask why a good thing was happening. If Taylor continued mouthing off like that, she'll end up back in jail.

Kenta pointed to Grace. "You can thank her. Helping with a police investigation gives you street creds."

Provided the police was the Chinatown Gang Police was left unsaid but understood by all.

"Aren't you worried we would try and sabotage the investigation?" Taylor continued demonstrating that she would be terrible at politics.

Grace glared at Taylor. "If you caused me to go back to jail, I will fla-"

Taylor suddenly shoot out her hands and covered Grace's mouth while looking up and down. This pissed off Grace even more and she started sputtering in outrage.

"Unhand me you-"

"Peasant. Yes I get it. Gee, I was just messing around."

Kenta was just looking at the two of them oddly. "I think you two need to unwind a bit."

"That's a terrible pickup line." Grace give Kenta a deadpan look and gestured at Taylor. "Also she's underage."

Taylor glared at Grace. The older woman stuck out her tongue and pulled one eyelid down. "Blgggh!"

"Alright you two, chill! We're going to the karaoke bar. Lee you coming?"

Lee was staring at a crack in the wall the entire time and he looked up and frowned.

"Is the Karaoke bar in that brothel in the block over by Dong's?"

"Yeah."

"Brothel!?" Grace sputtered in outrage.

"Brothel?" Taylor asked, her tone curious.

"A magical place." Kenta assured them. "My treat. But we're actually just singing and drinking. Prostitutes are too expensive."

There was mummers of mixed relief and disappointment.

"Look at it this way, usually white women end up working there. The two of you should feel special."

Lee spoke up. "I want to sing Hokkien songs again."

Grace perked up an ear, "You're Fujianese?"

"Taiwanese actually."

Kenta coughed. "Let's go. I need a drink."

* * *

Grace somehow roped Lee into a duet, a song that features both Mandarin (which Grace spoke) and Hokkien (which was Lee's native tongue).

"It's a love song, very tragic and full of yearning and about getting cold in Taipei or something. My Mandarin and Hokkien isn't that good". Kenta unhelpfully explained to Taylor who was eyeing his sake cup with envy.

"No."

"Excuse me?" Taylor's voice became sharp.

"No alcohol. You're underage."

Taylor stared at him. "Seriously?"

Kenta took a long sip and didn't reply. Taylor huffed in annoyance and continued sipping her hot Oolong tea.

As the dynamic harmony of Grace and Lee filled the small bar, Kenta allowed his mind to wander. As he started on another cup of spirits, the slightly turned shape of Taylor began to morph before his inebriated eyes. Her tall and tomboyish looks reminded him so much of her. Funny how he never noticed that.

His mind went back to those days of his youth. A happier time, when dreams were still possible and the future hadn't been torn apart and he hadn't been forced to become Lung.

As his mind grew fuzzier, he mumbled half drunkenly.

"Annette."

He closed his eyes and remembered.

It was the Fall of 1992.

* * *

A/N: The next couple chapters will set a totally new tone and complete the third emotional element aside from horror and comedy. I wrote this chapter on my phone while out vacationing (again). Sorry for the shorter wordcount.


	6. Days of Our Youth

**Chapter 6: Days of Our Youth**

* * *

 _"Kenta! Run!"_

 _He scrambled after her as explosions sounded behind them. The drone of fighter jets and mechs in the sky drowned the entire town. He looked up and saw soldiers parachuting down._

 _Missiles flew over the sky and blasted Japanese military craft out of the air. A flying Sentai Ranger was caught by nets launched from bazookas held by parachuting soldiers. The ranger crashed to the ground. A massive transport craft hang over the city, the symbol of the Chinese Union-Imperial painted with pride on it's side._

 _"It's a goddamned invasion."_

 _She turned back to him, hands outstretched. "Come on, Kenta. There's nothing you can do."_

 _"There is." He turned back to face the burning town centre . Determination in his eyes and steam drifting out of his mouth._

 _"No! They'll know what you are then. You can't beat back the entire Yangban!"_

 _Reluctantly he let her guide him away._

* * *

"I have to report to my new branch manager right away. You know which route to take right?"

The girl nodded her head, "Yeah big bro, I know. I memorized the whole route, and I have my tinkertech phone with that GPS thing."

The slightly older man chuckled, pushed up his glasses and hurried out the small apartment, suitcase in hand.

The apartment was suddenly much more lonesome. And quieter and dim and blue in the early morning light. So early, one could barely make out much details of the kitchen, which was lit by a small lamp.

School wasn't until another two hours, but she was quite nervous. She checked herself out in the mirror quickly- she read that the Japanese were big on makeup and looking professional, so much so that they woke up at least an extra hour earlier just to do so. It was a bit daunting, but she felt should at least make an effort of it.

Gazing back at her from the crystalline surface of the glass was a waif of a figure, stick thin- honestly, she wouldn't have looked out of place in this place's body type. She was taller than most of the Japanese she had seen when she came here though, but not by much, which she was thankful for. Talking to boys would have been slightly awkward then now wouldn't it?

She adjusted her new bright red glasses and tucked a piece of stray hair deliberately down. Now she looked like she had edge- that was always a good thing. She planned to play the exotic sexy foreign exchange student up the wazoo.

And damn, her blue and white themed sailor fuku was sexy. That was like, half the reason to go to school in Japan.

Maybe if someone catch a glimpse of her left inner thigh, they'll see the butterfly tattoo she got her friend Hannah to do for her. Well, she'll let some girls see it in the change rooms. No boys yet- but rumours will spread. She was going to be so cool. Which is exactly the image she wanted to craft.

Giving herself a thumbs up, she gave herself the pep talk of all pep talks. "Kick ass and take names."

Her brother Percival had generously taken her along to Japan. It was the opportunity of a life time for Annette Rose and she was extremely grateful.

She wasn't sure if she could handle being in the same house as her crazy alcoholic stepfather or her conservative and disapproving mother for a whole year. So when Percival told her he was temporarily being reassigned to Japan with free lodging, she jumped at the chance.

She studied some Japanese on her own time, she was sure she could handle the language barrier just fine. And anime had taught her all the cultural quirks she needed to know.

Of course, her mentor also wanted her to get in touch with the local chapter of the Sisterhood. So she was obligated on the basis of her gender to come here anyway.

"Oh crap, it's already 6:30?"

Annette hurriedly grabbed a slice of toast and stuffed it in her mouth- she'd seen enough anime to know that was how it was done and hurried out.

She hurried back in and turned off the lamp and then hopped out of the apartment, slamming the door shut and locking it with one smooth move.

* * *

A man in sunglasses and a dark suit bumped into Percival who grunted in pain. The man turned and frowned at the foreigner. "Watch your step, gaijin."

"Gomenasai", Percival apologized. Inwardly though, he thought that the sunglasses guy was a bastard- but he was built like a very dangerous secret service agent, so he thought better than to pick a fight. Besides, he was going to be late for the job.

He walked away and forgot all about the rude man in sunglasses.

* * *

A disgruntled grunt. "Hey Nee-san, I am going to borrow your bike."

An older gruffer voice replied. "Fix your own or buy a new one, baka."

"Hn. Sure whatever, Daichi."

Slamming the door shut, Kenta Kikuchi hurried down the wooden steps to the lower level where the garage was. It wasn't even locked- really who was gonna fuck with his brother?

Grabbing his brother's bike he hurried out of the garage and down the drive and onto the streets. A couple students were out and about, most of them going to Tenryuu Senior High judging by their blue and white themed school uniforms.

"Hn."

Stupid school. It was kinda pointless. He much preferred drawing things, but his teachers didn't like that at all.

Kenta was honestly a bit confused. Japan was a country that praised artists and yet somehow seemed wholly unprepared to accept that a student wanted to go into design or arts or something.

That was fine. Kenta didn't need to be an artist anyway.

He could be a superhero. Or a supervillain more likely. Cause the Sentai-Teams were a bit over the top. Briefly he considered what if a supervillain was over the top? What would that be like?

Probably really fun. _But it's all moot if I don't have superpowers anyway._

"Watch out!"

Someone yelled something in a foreign language- English?- and rammed into Kenta who screamed and fell, his bag flying from his hands and landing on the street. He cracked his head against the pavement and yelped in pain.

Groaning, he got onto his knees. Wait there's something wet on his face. His hand came away, revealing fresh red blood. He hissed in outrage. "Son of a bitch! I am going to kill you, you motherfuck-"

He got up on his feet and spotted his assailant, some foreign looking girl hurrying back up on her bike and hightailing it out of there without looking back.

"BITCH! YOU BAKA BITCH PERSON!"

He huffed, turned around and promptly froze.

An Obasan stood behind him, disapproval in her eyes. "Good Heavens. Young people these days! No manners!"

Kenta nodded. "Yes, she was quite rude."

"I meant you."

Kenta was bewildered. "Me?"

"Yes. You threatened to kill her! The poor dear was frightened out of her minds and that's why she ran away. It was an accident. If you can't treat girls well, even foreign girls, you'll never get a girlfriend."

Kenta groaned. Now was not the time for a lecture from a random granny! He was going to be late.

"Oh shit!"

"Young man, get that forehead of yours looked at! You look ghastly!"

He checked the time and scrambled to grab his things.

* * *

Annette was biking fast. She had ran over some scrawny kid, which was kind of embarrassing, but she was gonna be late, so too bad so sad.

With luck, he'll never ever recognize her, or which school she goes too. He might not even notice that she wasn't Japanese. And if he did, how will he know which white girl it was? Don't all white people look the same to Japanese people?

"Yeah. I am sure he'll think it was some other white girl who ran him over. No problem."

A couple other girls near the gates of the school stared at her oddly. She was after all, a foreigner that was speaking to herself in English.

Like a crazy person.

This was turning out to be a great first day.

* * *

2A-37.

2A-38.

2A-39. Aha!

"There we go!" She slid the door open- just like in an anime!- and waltzed in. The talking and babbling of friends reconnecting with each other over the holidays suddenly quieted as they stared at the sole foreigner in their school.

The teacher looked up from his laptop, back down and then suddenly back up again, mouth agape.

Annette walked over and bowed- not too lowly, she read about this on the internet- and handed the Sensei (yes, no more teachers, they're called Sensei's. So decreed Anime) a note from the principal's office along with a copy of her transfer documentation.

"Ah, I see. Thank you."

Annette nearly screamed out loud that she understood what he just said and bowed back, muttering a semi-hesitant. "Eh, y-you welcome."

"Why won't you introduce yourself to the class Rose-san?"

"Okay. I do."

"I will."

Blushing, she corrected herself. "I will. Got it, thank you."

She turned around and opened her mouth. Then closed it. She gestured at the black board. "Should I write name on board?"

The teacher nodded. "Yes please do Rose-san! It'll help. Their English isn't very good, so if you spell it out, it'll help."

She wrote. A-N-N-E-T-T-E on the board. And below that she wrote R-O-S-E.

Turning around she spoke to the class of maybe thirty-something students.

"Hello everyone. My name is Annette Rose. I transferred in today. Please forgive. I Japanese no very good. Want to be friends with everyone. Please take care of me."

She bowed.

The class clapped politely. One of the girls gushed. "Her surname means rose! That's so romantic."

The teacher stood up and addressed the class. "I expect everyone to represent Japan and to show utmost hospitality to Rose-san while she is with us. Rose-san, why don' you answer a couple questions from the class so they can know you better? Many of the students here are all in the same homeroom class every year since the first year of high school. They know everything there is to know about each other, but nothing at all about you!"

Annette nodded her. That made sense. "Alright. Who has questions?"

"Appropriate questions," The teacher interjected.

A boy pushed up his glasses and asked. "How old are you."

 _Wow, forward._ Annette composed herself quickly.

"17."

The boy nodded. "Makes sense. This is our senior year."

A girl's hand went up. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Er, no."

"YADDA!"

"Mako-san, sit down!" Another girl yelled angrily, "You're never going to get a girlfriend if you act so desperate all the time. It scares people!"

* * *

Kenta glance left and right warily for the school disciplinarian and walked up to a section of the school walls. With a mighty huff he threw his bag over the walls.

He parked his bike in some alley and locked it- it'll do for now and he couldn't sneak his bike into the school.

"Alright. I've done this enough times. No problem."

He gripped the walls and began to scale up. Finally he got atop of the walls and jumped down the other side.

Picking up his bags, he hurried towards his class. With luck, class wouldn't have started yet and the teacher would be too busy checking his email to notice him sneak in during the chaos. His classmates wouldn't tattle (in accordance to the secret sacred covenant on no-tattling invoked in first year), so it was all good.

Let's see…

2A-37.

2A-38.

2A-39.

He heard talking and yelling behind the door and grinned. That meant class hasn't started yet. He slid the door open and came face to face with the grey eyes of a pale and sharp face.

He gasped and marched over, looming over her menacingly with his greater height.

"YOU!"

The girl gaped at him. She narrowed her eyes and then they widen in recognition.

"YOU!"

"You ran me over!"

"You almost made me late!"

"You did make me late!"

Sensei suddenly yelled. "Alright! Time out! What the hell is going on here? Kenta-kun, Rose-san, you've got some explaining to do!"

"Hn." She crossed her arms.

"Hn." He crossed his arms.

"HN." She glared at him.

"HN." He glared at her.

"Stop copying me!"

"How dare you?" Kenta pointed a thumb at himself, "I, Kenta-sama's trademark growl is known to all. My classmates will attest to it."

A female classmate spoke what the whole class was thinking. "Wow. There's two of them."

Sensei slammed his fist on the table, face red with outrage. And suddenly he deflated and sat back down with a sigh. "Guys, please. It's 7am. I haven't even had coffee yet. Just sit down and stop fighting. Act like the 17 year olds I know you are."

* * *

Time moved quickly and Annette settled into a routine. Wake up, go to school, gossip with the girls and arrange dates to do homework together. Get into clubs. Promote feminism and gender equality. Go home. Repeat.

Her brother Percival often kept himself busy at work. An "exclusive contract" was all he would say. Something that his company, DRAGLE was negotiating with the Kobayashi Zaibatsu.

Annette quickly integrated herself into the class, picking up the Japanese language with incredible speed, as she befriended and hung out with many of the girls and held polite conversations with the boys.

She and Kenta still sniped at each other occasionally, but all in all, it was a functioning class that moved into winter. Some of the girls remarked how readily Annette became a part of their class- as if she was there with them in first year all along.

Another thing that the students of Tenryuu noticed was that their only foreign exchange student was quite the feminist. She regularly promoted female empowerment and was not ashamed of holding acerbic views regarding Japan's traditional patriarchal culture. Coming from other students, this may be seen as dangerously subversive or 'delinquent' behaviour. But coming from the exotic and sexy 'Rose-san', most regarded it as her 'sharing' her culture- which in a sense, she was.

* * *

Kenta was sipping soymilk from a carton through a straw. He grumbled and glance outside at the winter weather. As is typical for Kyushu winter, it wasn't exactly cold, but there was definitely more precipitation. Everything was quite rainy and wet even though the sun was clearly shining.

A couple girls behind him were giggling and gossiping about something.

"Are you for real?"

"I saw it up close, she showed me! Rose-san had a butterfly tattoo on her inner thigh!"

Kenta choked and milk squirted out of his nose as he coughed violently.

He stood up and coughed his way outside.

Quite honestly, he wasn't sure about Rose-san. She was…strange. Forward. Blunt. Good enough to tolerate- which he did, but not someone he would ever really call a friend. Very few people are truly his friends anyway. He was a delinquent, good students should stay away from him, but he was also the Bancho. They rely on him to protect them from the assholes of other schools.

Fumbling around, he felt a pack of cigarettes he always carried with him and he hurried up to the roof where he can smoke in peace.

Lighting one up, he stared out at the pristine landscape. It was so beautiful. Ruined by the familiar backside of Rose-san sitting on the edge of some kind of large pipe that went into the roof.

"Rose-san."

She looked up and frowned. Surprisingly, Kenta noted that she had a surprisingly tomboyish look. Very badass. The light hair colour gave a delinquent air to her looks. Wonder what she looks like out of the uniform.

In jeans. Yes. That would do it. Jeans and a wife-beater maybe? With a black bra? Yeah that's a pretty good look. I still got my designer sensibilities I guess.

Unbidden his subconsciousness suddenly piped up with: How about naked?

No Kenta. Don't go there! She's the devil!"

"Kikuchi-san. What do you want?"

Shrugging, he pointed to the cancerstick hanging from his lips. "Just smoking. What you doing this time? Drugs? A pregnancy test?"

She held up a middle finger. In the same hand, her index finger and thumb gripped a lit cigarette.

He grunted. A fellow smoker. So that's why she enjoyed going to the roofs so much. He figured as much, she had a smoke-scent on her, but he figured that might have been her brother or one of her girlfriends.

"You know Rose-san, most girls, hell, few boys even, appreciate banter. They can't take it. But you? I can be as rough as I like, and you just strike back. You always this delinquent back in America?"

There was a pause and she took a long drag and blew it out. The breeze carried the smoke away towards the west.

"I didn't have much friends back home."

"Ah."

"I like Japan though. Here I am exotic and special. Back home….well, people can be cruel."

Kenta nodded. "Yeah. They can be."

She stood up and grind her cigarette butt into the ground with her foot. "So I've heard rumours about you Kenta."

Kenta raised an eyebrow in what he hope was a cool manner. "Yeah? About what exactly?"

"Apparently you have a small dick."

"WHAT!?"

She began to laugh. It was a thrilling sound- rough and barbaric. Like a girl who just saw her best friend got nailed in the balls while drunk and couldn't help herself. She may have spit.

Kenta winced. That was one rowdy woman.

"You idiot. Obviously I meant that you're a bit involved."

"Involved? Like uh, romantically? You've heard wrong then."

"No you idiot. With the thug-life. Gangs. Know what I am saying?"

Kenta shrugged. "That's mostly my brother though. I do a bit of this and that for him."

"Just this and that, huh?" She sounded unconvinced.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Just this and that."

She nodded. "Yeah, I did a bit of this and that too. Heard of Lustrum? I did all kinds of this and that for her. She's the future. You just wait for it. "

Suddenly, it occurred to Kenta just why Annette was so keen on the feminism thing. Of course the only thing out of his mouth was: "Hn."

She walked pass him and whispered in his ear. "Treat girls well Kenta-kun."

She patted him on the cheek.

Kenta threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. "Femnazis huh? Wouldn't have expected that."

Shit just got interesting, because Kenta knew for a fact that the rival gang to his brother's dealt in human trafficking and sexual slavery. He wondered if Annette was crazy enough to get involved. But of course she was already involved wasn't she? Lustrum wasn't just a radical feminist, she's a bonafide supervillain. Minor- but strong enough to command henchmen. Or henchwomen to be precise.

Let's see the Super Sentai Teams deal with an Evil Feminist. Nah. That shit wouldn't fly- not in today's television let alone the Sentai PR machine.

He also belatedly realized that he may have a fetish for dominant woman. Because that whole whispering threats in his ear thing? That was hot.

He paused.

"Wait. Did she call me Kenta-kun?"

He couldn't help but smirk. Maybe they could be friends after all. It wasn't every day you met another thug who called you by your first name.

* * *

In a dark office room, an elderly man in an expensive kimono knelt down on the cushion in front of the large table. The curtains were drawn and only a lamp provided illumination.

A man in sunglasses and a dark suit walked up to him and dropped a single photograph onto the table.

"That him?" The elderly man pointed to the photograph of a Gaijin working over a desk, surrounded by Japanese co-workers.

"Yeah, Percival Rose. The specialist that they called in. He's the main negotiator for contract with Kobayashi." Sunglasses-man confirmed.

"Well, we can't let them get the contract. It'll ruin our control of the region."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"Give me a background check on that man. I want to know what leverage we can apply over him."

"Hai, Yamaguchi-sama."

* * *

A/N: I am mostly transferring these from a totally different format, as a result, all formatting are lost unless I manually redo them- so forgive me if there are weird sentences that seems like they should be first person thoughts of characters that aren't italicized, I make it a point to italicized the really necessary parts. I may have missed some, but it should be readable- there are afterall, novels that do just fine without italicizing the first person thoughts of people.


	7. Hava Nagila

A/N: I had a chapter that continued Kenta/Annette's flashback adventure, but it's on my laptop at home. So I wrote this instead. Chapter 8 will continue Kenta and Annette's story.

 **Chapter 7: Hava Nagila**

Oni Lee climbed into the large prayer truck with the miniature temple mounted in the back. It was an ostentatious thing, with blinking LED lighting and the chanting of Buddhist monks in multiple Asian languages blasted out of large stereos mounted on all sides. Large banners in English proclaiming the colonial evils of the guailo fluttered in the wind.

Lung stood nearby and give him an encouraging nod. "Now, Lee, you carry the shrine of our glorious Guan Shen Di Jun into battle. Don't fail us."

Oni Lee grunted affirmatively. "Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult."

Bakuda held out her hands in confusion. "What, that doesn't even make any sense!"

Lung waved off her concerns and simply said. "He's quoting the Godfather, don't worry about it."

Bakuda grunted and got into the passenger seat. "Alright, you remember how to work my bombs right?"

The Demon grunted.

Bakuda gave Lung a thumbs up and Lee drove the truck down the street and out of Chinatown. Lung waved goodbye. This was a most important mission- today they deliver a message to the Nazi fucks that they were messing with the wrong hood.

Lung wasn't even going to participate. He had soap operas to watch.

* * *

Max Anders stared out of his office window and at the evening skyline of the Bay. Behind him, gathered the leadership of the Empire Eighty Eight. It was ballsy meeting in Medhall like this, but who would dare try and assault a major corporation and a key business of the Bay?

They were all but protected because the PRT could not abide anyone targeting Medhall and the Empire never would because they ran it. A win-win scenario.

"Krieg, what's this I hear about the Jew-filth making a documentary about historical lies that they're trying to film in Brockton Bay?"

The cape in question, Krieg slammed a fist over his chest- what a drama queen!- and proudly recited all that he knew. "The inferior races seek to document the history of the so called Neonazi movement. Because Brockton Bay is the Nazi Capital of the USA, they wanted to film segments here."

"We're not Nazis though", Hookwolf said with conviction. "We're the heritage alliance."

"Yes. We're scholars and protectors of white history and culture." Rune agreed. "But they don't know that. The Jewish conspiracy has placed liberals in our schools and media, and they're trying to paint us as extremists, meanwhile, they keep giving concessions and protection to the other races. But no, white people can't have a culture!"

"We should do something about that. Can't have them be spreading propaganda about our noble cause and race." Victor piped up.

Max grunted in agreement, even though he didn't give one shit about some nonsensical racial supremacy protectionism crap. Conservative bullshit. He was secretly a liberal, but he had to pretend to be an ultranationalist in front of his men- didn't stop him from voting Democrat though.

Outloud he said. "Yes. We should. What's this I hear about our drug trade in Chinatown getting cockblocked?"

Cricket took up this one. "It's that degenerate filth, Lung. That blasted chink had stamped out our operatives amongst the Mongoloid hordes. He's enforcing his claim on the drug trade within his territory. They're peddling some crap heroin. Some type of China White- but the quality is really bad."

Victor piped in again. "If only he wasn't illegally manipulating the market- otherwise, the consumer base will always choose the superior product- ours. Unfortunately, Lung doesn't play fair."

Max sighed. There he goes again. Ever since Victor stole the business skills of that prominent CEO from Canada, he's being all "market penetration" this, "open information" that, and so on and so forth.

The man that was also Kaiser slammed his fist down on the table. "Okay. We're going to go to Chinatown, and do a bit of culling. That'll teach the yellow monkeys a lesson!'

There was choruses of agreement.

There was the distant roar of an explosion and Max turned around to look outside in shock. "What the fuck-"

A plume of fire somewhere in the Medhall parking lot hurled a metallic object up several stories. As it came closer and closer, Max could hear the faint sounds of prayer music.

"Max, watch out!" Hookwolf roared as Max began to cover himself with metal.

And then a blue truck carrying a fucking temple on it's back slammed through the windows and into the office.

The conference table was smashed into splinters as capes screamed and dove for cover. The wrecked truck came to a rolling stop halfway through the walls and into the hallway.

Max groaned and sat up- that truck missed his head by inches! Holy shit.

Stormtiger sent a blade of air to silence the blaring prayer chantings and spat blood and dust flakes out of his mouth. "Fuck!"

Rune was crying and whimpering about her broken leg.

* * *

The two security guards dropped dead, their throat slit and blood spraying everywhere as Oni Lee stepped into the room. He nodded to Bakuda who withdrew a CD and popped it into the broadcasting system.

After slicing up and reconnecting a few wires, she made sure the music [Hava Nagila] was blasting throughout the entirety of Medhall.

She grinned in satisfaction. "That'll piss off the Nazi fucks for sure."

She knelt down on the ground and began to tape a small bomb to the corner of a desk. Looking up she ordered Oni Lee. "Go distract them."

"Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."

Bakuda sighed. "You're a bit of a loose screw huh, Lee?"

Without answering, the demon of Chinatown slipped away into the darkness.

* * *

"Who would dare attack us?" Storm Tiger questioned furiously.

Suddenly the mic crackled to life and began to blare the familiar voice of Harry Belafonte. He was singing….no. He couldn't be! They wouldn't dare!

"Those Zionist bastards!" Alabaster gasped in outrage from the spike of metal he was impaled on when the truck knocked him over into the wall. He kept resetting himself so the wound didn't get any worse. However, he was definitely wounded, which meant he needed Othala to heal him. He looked over at the woman besides Victor, who was nursing a broken hand.

"Hey Othala! I am going to need some healing."

She looked up and grimaced. "Shut up,I am gonna need to heal my hands first, I-"

A demon suddenly stood in front of them, flak jacket strapped with obvious explosive devices.

"Oh shit."

"Terrorist attack on Medhall. Potential parahuman involvement."

"Armsmaster en route."

The tinker revved his bike and made an illegal U-turn. As he sped towards Medhall, he saw a brilliant explosion lit up the horizon.

* * *

Kaiser screamed in outrage as his metallic form and pieces of the building's roof was flung into the night sky in the display of pyrotechnic terrorism- a sudden chain wrapped around his waist as Oni Lee appeared behind him.

He spoke with a deadpan voice, with a hint of some sort of Asian accent. "You've gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Before Kaiser could reply to that nonsensical question, the Demon crumbled into particles of ash and appeared several feet below him. Oni Lee gripped the chain and pulled with all of his might.

Kaiser screamed as gravity and the strength of the pull lurched him down at shocking speeds to smack through the non-existent roof the Medhall building, resulting in a small explosion of dust.

Lee crumbled into dust again, like a ghost and a bad dream.

Moments later, everything exploded.


	8. Love and War

_LITERAL TRIGGER WARNINGS: I try to keep it relatively clean, but there's going to be some horrific torture. Also wild mood whiplashes. And music. Be ready._

 **Chapter 8: Love and War**

 **1992, Kyushu**

Kenta entered the Hospital and quickly cut across the lobby to the elevators. He pressed the up button and waited. Other patients and a nurse with a large cart full of cartons of something stood nearby, also waiting for one of the two elevators to come down from the top floors.

To his brief annoyance, he noted that both elevators tend to be up at the same time, it wasn't ever that one was at the bottom floor- they always cycle to the very bottom before moving to the very top. He supposed that only made logical sense, it would certainly piss off many people who arrive a second late on the middle floors and see that the elevator had suddenly went back up or down before they had a chance to hail it.

DING!

The elevator in front of him opened and he squeezed with the many bustling folks and the occasional old person. He pitied them- hospital visits must be terrifyingly uncertain for them.

But then again, wasn't life and death uncertain for everyone? There was no guarantee that younger folks would live longer. Kenta could leave this hospital and be run over by a car later today.

The elevator doors slid open and he hurried out and down the hall of the long-term care ward, looking for the only room number that mattered to him.

4117

He opened the door gently and entered the air conditioned room. The sudden rush of cold air tingled his skin. In the dim light, he saw the curtains were drawn so the sunlight didn't bother the slowly breathing figure lying on the bed in the orange blankets.

He walked over and gazed at her unconscious face- she looked so peaceful sleeping like this.

He gripped a hand that had IV drips connected to them. Just yesterday, she had another major surgery. They removed another tumor. But Kenta knew that it was only a matter of time before more came.

"Kaasan."

He sat in the nearby metal chair and waited. He knew that she would want him to be here when she wakes up. Daichi couldn't do it, he was too busy…doing business.

So that left Kenta.

His Chinese mother, who moved to Japan years ago after getting hitched to their father…learning Japanese and learning how to thrive in a totally an alien culture. Their father died early, so their mother had to raise them by herself, she worked herself to exhaustion each night. She was so busying trying to put food on the table, she couldn't raise her children right.

So her children became delinquents…and Daichi eventually became a full blown Yakuza. She still held out hope for Kenta. But Kenta knew that all he would do was disappoint his mother.

"I didn't choose the thug-life. The thug-life chose me." He said to her sleeping form.

It was two hours later when she opened her eyes. "Hmmm, Kenta-kun, Is that you?"

"Hai, it's me, Kaasan."

"How was school?"

"It went well."

A pause. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to say. Telling her about the fights he got into didn't seem like a wise thing to do.

Then suddenly, he felt compelled to share something else that had happened to him.

"Well…Kaasan. I met this girl."

"Oh?"

"She's kinda crazy. But I think we're friends? Kind of. Maybe."

"I am glad. Is she beautiful?"

He didn't want to answer that, but he didn't have the heart to lie to his mother. "…Yes."

She smiled. "Well, go and make me some grandchildren. After you're hitched of course."

Kenta's face burned and he sputtered in outrage. "W-what? I am not- we're not…NO!"

"Wow. With a denial that strong, you must really like her then."

"Hn."

She smirked knowingly. "Admit it, Kenta-kun."

"Okay. But there's no way she likes me back."

His mother rolled her eyes. Her beautiful eyes. "Kenta-kun, if you don't try, you'll never know if it'll work out. And then you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"But Kaasan, she's a gaijin."

"What does that matter? I am a gaijin."

"Hn."

"Don't you dare 'Hn' me, young man!"

Kenta pondered on what his mother had said. She did have a good point. If he didn't try, how would he know? Well, he supposed he could try and put the ol' Kikuchi charm on her. His moves were super strong. Annette-chan will have to submit then, right?

* * *

Anette grappled the other girl and pushed her onto the ground, climbing atop of her, she swung her legs around Aki-chan's waist. And began to choke her.

"Halt! Annette-chan, that's enough!"

With a huff, Annette eased off and stood up. She frowned at the girl below her and spat on her face. "That'll teach you to spread rumours about me. Bitch."

The referee, captain of the wrestling team, nodded her head and turned to the small audience of women in the crowd. "And that ends the duel. Annette-chan is the winner and Aki-chan agrees to take back her comments about Annette-chan's apparent promiscuity. Apologize Aki-chan!"

Aki-chan nodded her head, coughed a few times and said in a hoarse voice. "I am s-sorry, Annette-chan. I won't spread rumours about you being a sl- about you being promiscuous ever again."

"Whiny spineless bitch." Was Annette's only reply. "Being accused of being a slut is a big deal. Don't do it again."

Everyone nodded. Justice was served. Even though the wrestling match didn't exactly followed legal rules, but the devil is in the details and nobody cared.

"Cool, now I am going to take a shower. Interrupt me at your own peril." Annette stalked off and headed towards the change rooms.

Granted, no one was quite sure just what being a slut entailed or what one had to do to become one. It's just generally a label teenage girls don't want to be associated with, but liberally apply to anyone they hate or that they're jealous of. A definition that doesn't hold up to any close examination. Annette often questioned just how many boys you were supposed to sleep with in order to be a slut- or does it just take one? Or does it take just one boy that another girl already marked as theirs for you to become a slut? She had been called a slut for no reason whatsoever before too- so who the hell knows the criteria, really?

The ontological nature of being a slut aside, another thing bothering her lately was Kenta-baka. That guy…was a bad boy. A bad bad boy. And dreamy.

Which is like kryptonite to teenage women. She really didn't want to find him attractive, but she kind of did. Maybe it was the environment she was in, but status and rank was a very real psychological thing and in a rather hierarchal society, there was no question which student was the boss. He was the Bancho. That was like, top dog. The alpha. The guy too dangerous to date, who was a rebel against the entire system and who no parents wanted around their baby girl. In other words, he was the perfect boyfriend material.

He was almost as perfect as a hot young male teacher, but Annette didn't think she was rebellious enough to find that palatable- and all the teachers at Tenryuu were either old or married. So yeah, it was a moot point.

She may have a fetish for men in positions of power. Christ- what does that say about her?

Getting out of the shower and dressed, she grabbed her gym bag and headed home. Only a few girls were left, but they gave her polite nods. As she left the school gates, she saw the very man she was thinking about.

"Speak of the Devil…"

Kenta-kun looked up from the porn magazine he was shamelessly reading in full view of the public. Annette began to walk faster to try and get away from the Bancho.

He rolled up his dirty magazine and stuffed it in his school bag. Swinging it over his shoulder, he grinned at her and quickly caught up to her.

"So, Annette-chan."

"Don't call me that."

He rolled his eyes. "You called me Kenta-kun. Please. I thought our relationship had moved on to the next level."

She replied with her trademark attitude. "Hn." That she shared with Kenta, however much it annoyed her.

"How about you and me go to the movies?" Kenta suddenly asked out of the blue.

She blinked and turned to face him, but continued walking. "Wow. That's forward."

"Guys should be forward. Make their intentions clear. And have an actual plan in mind." He declared confidently. Like reciting some ancient wisdom or proverb.

"That ever worked for you?"

"Not really, no. I think that might be more the fault of the reputation I have than the methods involved."

"Well, why'd you think it worked on me then?" She was actually curious.

"The sheer audacity."

Annette paused. He was right, that was audacious. Would it be so bad just to go on a date with him? She would never know whether he was a viable boyfriend if she didn't give it a try? Right?

Besides she wasn't likely to get another opportunity once she leaves Japan- back home she's kind of ordinary and there were girls more desirable and less zealous on the gender equality thing for boys to gun for.

Here in Japan though, she could play the field! She could almost hear Lustrum's disapproving voice chastising her over her fraternizing with the enemy.

"Alright. A movie date. But as friends. And if you try to touch me, I will rip off your balls and use it as a ball-gag."

He raised an eyebrow at that mental image. "You want to use my balls as a ball-gag?"

She grimaced in disgust. Oh god no. "Yes. For you. Not me."

"Okay, just clarifying. Because I was kinda okay with the latter."

"Did not need that mental image. Now scram, boy."

"Sure sure. So what's this I hear through the grapevine about you challenging Aki-chan to a wrestling duel?"

"She called me a slut."

"Aren't you though?"

She glared at him and hissed in a warning tone. "Kenta…"

He made the exaggerated motions of checking his non-existent wristwatch. "Welp, gotta go. See you…hmmm. Saturday? How about that?"

"Sure. 10am, we'll meet here right at the school gate."

He frowned. "Can't I come pick you up at your place?"

"I am not sure I want you to know where I live…," she said hesitantly.

He grinned. "Too late, I snuck into the main office and looked up your address when the secretary was out."

Annette wondered how this man wasn't expelled yet.

"Wow, you weren't afraid of getting caught?"

"I spiked her drink. She had a bad diarrhea."

Scratch that, she wondered how he wasn't arrested yet.

"Kenta! That's outrageous!"

"Saturday. Your place. See ya, darling."

"Don't call me darling."

"Okay, honey. Goddess. Beautiful hot sexy foreign exchange student."

She blushed furiously.

She watched Kenta walked away, a spring in his steps.

Annette scowled. "Son of a bitch. He made me blush."

She was trying to play hard to get- but damn that took basically no effort on his part whatsoever. Oh he was good.

* * *

Saturday morning, there was knocking on the door.

Annette crawled out of bed and stood up to rub her eyes. "What the hell?"

Who the hell could it be? Her brother already left for work. She ambled over to open the door.

Kenta stood there, and looked down…and down… and whistled. "Wow. Those are impressive."

She looked down and saw that she was wearing a sheer white undershirt. With no bra. She screamed in embarrassment and outrage.

"BAKA!"

She slammed the door shut in his face, her face red. He cried in pain from the other side.

* * *

"That wasn't my fault. You were the one who forgot to wear something more substantial before opening that door." Kenta argued as he walked besides her.

Annette wasn't accepting that argument. "You still looked!"

"Well, I saw them accidentally. What was I supposed to do, look and then look away? I came clean and acknowledged that I saw it, that's what a man's supposed to do, right?"

"No!"

"So they're supposed to look and then pretend they didn't see anything even though it's obvious that you know that I saw?"

She nodded her head. "Yes."

"Wow. Women are crazy. Or is that just you?"

She held up a middle finger and walked faster. Rushing, she had quickly thrown on a dress and didn't bother with the makeup. Or brushing her teeth. She was too embarrassed- both at the "twin peaks" incident and at over sleeping- to prepare herself adequately.

She glanced over and saw Kenta hurrying up match her pace. He looked good dressed casually- well, actually, he looked pretty much the same. Khakis and an unbuttoned school uniform- because school uniforms unbuttoned is like a necessity for delinquents. She can dig that.

What was a different was the wife beater under the jacket, it accentuated his muscles quite nicely- usually he would at least bother to wear a barely collared shirt under there.

Was white wife beaters the unofficial Asian uniform or something? Maybe she should give it a try- maybe match it with a black bra? That would be a good look.

She could imagine her mother sputtering in outrage. And didn't that thought warm her cold little heart?

She grinned at the mental images.

"Um, are you okay, Annette-chan? You're just staring off into space and grinning like a loon."

"Shut up! Baka!"

* * *

The bickering couple to be failed to notice a black limousine following closely behind them. The rear window rolled down and a man in a dark suit and sunglasses tapped an earphone in his right ear.

"Target in sight. Unknown Japanese male- maybe a boyfriend- escorting her. Orders?"

There was a crackle, and the voice of Yamaguchi-sama came through.

"Take the boy too- it'll add to the psychological terror."

"Hai."

Yamaguchi muttered gleefully over the phone. "I want that blasted gaijin to be afraid. To know we aren't joking. We're going to hand her over to the production team."

"You want to live stream it, sir?"

"Yes. And we'll send him an email with the website link so he can watch in real time and decide whether he wants to go ahead and sign that contract this evening or not."

"Hai. Acknowledged."

* * *

Annette was blushing furiously as she watched the film up on the big screen. She glared at Kenta, who grinned at her in the dim lighting.

He did this on purpose! I know he did!

She was quite suspicious when the movie was named Castles of Forbidden Desire, but Kenta assured her that it was a psychological thriller and art film.

It was indeed a psychological thriller and art film. It also made her question her sexuality.

The accursed movie was basically a lesbian BDSM erotica, disguised as an art film based on some best-selling novel by some perverted male Japanese author from a decade ago.

A moan resounded throughout the theatre and Annette blushed even more.

Kenta suddenly touched her hand.

She glared at him. And mimed her hands grabbing something and tearing it off and stuffing it in his mouth.

He let go.

Ten minutes later, during a particularly gymnastic scene in the film, Kenta touched her hand again.

She slapped it.

He let go.

Ten minutes later he touched her hand again! That baka son of a-

Eventually, she gave up and just let him grab her hand. His hands were rough- calloused, from running and picking fights maybe?

How soft her hands must be in comparison! She was a thug yes, but she never really fought anyone with the intensity of a real fight. She was an internet warrior and occasional peddler of illegal drugs. But that was it.

Sometimes she choked a bitch, but that was different. They tend to not see it coming and were usually one of those stuck up bitches who didn't understand that in the real world, people choke you for the shit that they spew. That didn't really rough up your hands however.

Finally the end credits rolled, and she could stop distracting herself with the warm and burning hand that gripped her own. It was like an embarrassing sensation that she couldn't ignore.

Wait, was he pumping her hand? Oh god.

Uh. I can't possibly be this easy to fluster!

But she was. Seventeen and tomboyish. Little friends. Troubled home life. In none of that did she really have an opportunity to date or interact with boys or whatever.

Which base did she made it to? The spin the bottle base. That was which base she made it too. While drunk. And surrounded by only women. And she definitely wasn't gay. She was a total noob and Kenta was playing her like a fiddle.

"You know Annette-chan." Kenta spoke up. "I think you're overthinking things. Was your life in America that competitive and contentious? I am a straightforward and practical guy. I am at the movies. I am holding your hand. I like you. This is date, not a fight. Nobody needs to win. Chill, okay?"

She visibly relaxed and breathed in- she forgot to breathe again. Was she that obvious?

She replied the only way she could. "Hn."

Somehow, she was sure Kenta knew exactly what she meant by that.

The two of them left, Annette waited patiently while Kenta went to the bathroom.

"Wash your hands afterwards!" She called to his back as he walked to the boy's lavatory. A couple people stared at them bewilderedly as Kenta blushed in embarrassment and outrage.

Annette smirked. Vengeance was mine!

They walked out of the theatre and down the street- and suddenly, many hands grabbed the two of them and pulled them into the alley they were passing through.

Something was pressed over Annette's mouth and she lost consciousness immediately, her body becoming slack in the arms of her assailant. The last thing she saw was Kenta struggling in someone's grip and screaming her name.

"Annette! Annette!"

* * *

Annette jerked awake. Groaning, she took in her environment and immediately summed up her situation.

"Fuck."

It was a dark and shady warehouse. There was a camera on a tripod in front of her, and several masked man standing in front of her. Empty cages lined the walls.

And the scent of blood and fear was strong. The floor was slick with something. She desperately hoped it wasn't blood.

She tried to move and noticed strong ropes had tied her to the chair.

Her only source of comfort was that to her left, Kenta was unconscious and tied up as well. With some worry, she noted that his forehead was bleeding and there was a nasty bruise on his lower jaw.

She whimpered when one of the masked man approach.

"Hello you little slut."

"W-what do you want with me?" She managed to ask. She didn't want to know the answer. She really really didn't want to know.

"Oh, we're just sending a message to our brother."

She gulped. "Percival?"

The man nodded, his voice mocking. "Yes. You see, he's going to signing an exclusive contract tonight. But we're going to convince him why that's a bad idea."

The masked man behind the camera looked up from his phone and grunted at the person talking to Annette. "Boss. The gaijin has opened the email link, I am going to start streaming."

"Go ahead."

The camera was turned on.

* * *

Percival was surprised to receive a phone call while he was in the final stages of negotiations.

"Rose-san, please check your email. Otherwise, we can't promise your sister's safety."

His face rapidly paled. Apologizing profusely to the other negotiators, he stood up to take the call outside. Fear gripped his heart as he hurried to comply with the instructions. When he click on the link in the email, he was taken to a web page with a loading screen.

He frowned in confusion, then the stream started.

In the dark room, he could make out his sister tied up to a chair and a masked man stood over her. The man turned towards the camera and chuckled.

The phone rang again. Pressing it to his ears, the same voice spoke. "Rose-san, if you sign that contract tonight, your sister will die in the most horrific, humiliating way possible. Her life is in your hands. And trust me, we'll know if you don't comply."

The call hang up and Percival was taken back to the webpage. On screen, the masked man tore off Annette's shirt.

Percival gasped in horror. Nearby, a bodyguard with a dark suit and sunglasses smirked. However, he tightened his fist, which glowed subtly- just in case he needed to take out the gaijin if he was defiant.

* * *

Annette screamed when her shirt was torn off, revealing her lacy pink bra to the world. Oh god, this is not happening to me!

Kenta groaned and jerked awake. He looked over and saw what was happening.

"Annette! Unhand her!" He snarled at the assailant, who promptly backhanded Kenta across the face.

The man sneered. "Shut up, boy."

Another man walked forward and raised a baseball bat. He smacked Kenta across his legs, shattering both of his kneecaps.

"Aaaaagh!"

Annette screamed. "Kenta!" Turning to their assailants, she begged. "Please, stop, don't do this!"

The man slapped Annette across the face. "Shut up bitch. It's going to be your turn to scream soon enough."

He turned to the others and barked out an order. "Take the boy to the room over, I want this girl to hear his screams."

Two men walked over, untied Kenta and dragged his bleeding form out of the room and through a door.

Annette sobbed as the man grabbed her hair and pulled her head back.

"It's not every day I get to break a gaijin. I will enjoy this. And we will sell this video for big bucks on the dark web. I am seeing profits in the millions. Either that, or the Yakuza pay us millions if we succeed in getting your brother to back off from signing that contract. Either way, it's just business."

He tore off her brassiere. In the room over, Kenta began to scream as Annette begged for mercy.

* * *

The two began to hammer him with nail bats as soon they dropped in the middle of the room, some kind of storage unit for cocaine.

Kenta groaned weakly as he was literally being reduced to a human mush from all the hits he was taking. This wasn't a fight. It was a slaughter. It was total and utter brutality, the likes of which he had never experienced.

Still, he was only concerned about one person. Annette.

"A-annette."

One of the man kicked him in the head, and he jerked back in pain. "Your girlfriends going to be whoring herself to us all soon enough. But don't worry, maybe I'll rip off your head and show it to her, do you think that'll turn her on?"

Kenta gripped his broken fingers in fury.

And then suddenly, there was a flash of light as a tear in the air appeared in front of them. One of the assailants muttered in confusion.

"What."

BANG!

He jerked back and dropped dead. The other assailant raised his nail bat in terror, but a second gunshot splattered his brain all over the wall and onto some of the packs of cocaine.

A woman dressed in a smart designer business suit stepped out of the rift in high heels. She wore a fedora and her dark hair spilled across her shoulders.

She looked down at the boy impassively.

"Kenta Kikikuchi. You have a destiny."

She grabbed him the back of his shirt collar and dragged him over to the packs of cocaine. She fired on the bag and blasted the bag open, sending white powder flying everywhere in the room.

Kenta tried to struggle, but he couldn't do anything with his broken body. His face was shoved into the pile of cocaine and he began to suffocate as he struggled to brief. He inhaled the white powder and gasped as the drug began to take effect.

Between struggling to breath, the pleasurable high, the unending high and the intense pain wracking his entire body he only felt anger. Unbelievable amounts of fury as he swore to kill everyone responsible for today.

"I 'ill' 'kill' 'U!" He managed to utter out before he lost consciousness. And then he saw them.

The giant shapes.

The gods.

 **[TRAJECTORY]**

 **[AGREEMENT]**

 **[DESTINATION]**

He roared as fire exploded from his body and silver scales burst from underneath his healed skin. Bones cracked as they snapped back into the correct shape.

His red eyes blazed with fury.

"ANNETTE!"

* * *

When the man began groping her bared breasts, Annette refused to scream. She glared at him in defiance. When Kenta started screaming like some kind of dying animal, Annette begged for mercy.

Not for herself. For Kenta.

"Please, let him go."

He slapped her again. "Shut up."

"Please, let him g-."

Another slap. He grabbed her mouth and shook her violently. "I SAID SHUT UP!"

Another man stepped up. "Maybe it's time to plug her whore mouth shut. Or wire it shut."

"I agree. Surely, as long she's not dead, we still have leverage over the gaijin."

BANG.

"What was that?"

BANG.

"Is that gunshots?"

BANG.

"Did they shoot the boy? What a waste of fine meat. We should've filmed his execution."

Another man shrugged. "I will go check."

He opened the door and left. The lead assailant looked back down at Annette and spat on her face. "Hear that, gaijin slut? Your boyfriend is dead."

Annette cried in denial. "No. He can't be. KENTA!"

KABLOOM!

The walls exploded in a furious flaming conflagration as the man who went to check on the boy flew back out to crash into the warehouse walls. He was a destroyed thing, with his head angled the wrong way.

In the ruins of the wall, flames burned everything and standing in the eye of the storm, a terrifying visage stood up slowly.

A dragon was born.

The man standing over Annette released his bowels when Kenta grabbed him by the face and separated his jaw from his head. The dragon set fire to the jaw and threw it away. It smashed into the tripod holding the camera and exploded.

There was screams, but a flutter of claws and whip of fire silenced the rest of their tormentors. Annette looked up at the familiar yet alien face of the dragon staring down at her.

She swallowed nervously, and wetted her lip, which was cracking from all the stress and the heat in the room.

"K-Kenta-kun? Is that you?"

He held up a hand and smiled, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth. "Come on Annette-chan. Follow me."

She did.

* * *

The man in sunglasses and a dark suit picked up the phone on the first ring. "Yes?"

"His sister is escaping! Her boyfriend fucking triggered! Shoot the gaijin. Then silence the boy and the girl. We'll do damage control later."

"Hai."

Kicking open the door to the conference room, he pointed his gun at Percival Rose, who was doing his best to try and sabotage his own negotiation in order to save his sister.

Percival turned around, eyes wide in shock right before a hole was drilled through his forehead by a speeding bullet. His body slumped in his seat.

The assassin turned and ran as the shocked negotiators screamed in horror.

He quickly left the building and entered the dark alley. With a dramatic pose and a tap of his tinkertech watch, he quickly yelled.

"Solar Ranger Green, Transform!"

There was a flare of prismatic light and suddenly, the Green Solar Ranger stood in the alley, skin tight bodysuit hugged his muscled frame and a metallic mouth and dark visor completed his attire. He quickly teleported away with a crack of displaced air.

* * *

Annette struggled to keep up with the silver dragonoid that Kenta had become. The dragon slaughtered gangsters as he smashed through walls and guided her slowly out of wherever they are. It seemed like they were in some kind of large complex. Maybe a factory?

A group of man on balconies opened fire with machine guns and Annette screamed. But Kenta stood in front of her, arms outstretched, soaking up the bullets and laughing.

"Eat this, fuckers!"

He launched a wave of fire that incinerated the shooters. Their scream was music to Annette's ears. More gangsters poured out of doors and from behind industrial machines, firing at Kenta.

There was sparks everywhere as the bullets ricocheted off the metallic scales now covering the boy she knew.

At that moment, standing behind the shadow cast by Kenta as he took literal bullets for her, surrounded by Yakuza, with her torso completely bare to the world and her face bruised, Annette realized something: Amidst all of the coursing adrenaline and emotional terror of the last hour, she had fallen in love.

Suddenly, there was a crack and a….a Green Power Ranger was standing in front of her.

"Is that…is that a power ranger?"

Kenta growled. "It's the Green Solar Ranger- you can tell by the insignia. But…there is no such thing as a Green Solar Ranger. At least, not for the last couple of years. Who the fuck are you?"

The Ranger raised a tinkertech raygun and posed dramatically.

"I am the Hitman."

* * *

When all four Solar Rangers gathered in front of the factory owned by the Yamaguchi Zaibatsu, they stared in awe at the exploding building and the thing that was roaring and moving within the ruins.

"Is that…a Baby Kaiju?" The Pink Solar Ranger asked.

"Uh. I hope not. Maybe it's a Case-53?" Was the Black Solar Ranger's reply.

The creature suddenly burst out, in his arms was…was that a half-naked white girl?

Before any of the Rangers could react, the monster galloped away at shocking speeds and disappeared into the woods, leaving behind trails of literal fire in its wake.

Red Ranger pointed dramatically towards the forest. "Come on Rangers. We should hunt it down!"

With a flutter of poses and yells of youthful spirit, the Solar Rangers began to run towards the woods.

Fifteen minutes into the chase, they were panting and leaning against trees.

"I think…I think I am going to puke." Blue Ranger admitted as he panted like a dying man.

"You need to exercise more, baka!"

"Dammit, we need a mover in this team!"

Red Ranger groaned. His team sucked. This was why the other Red Rangers always laugh at him at the biannual Super Sentai Convention.

An explosion up ahead suddenly grabbed their attention and the Rangers hurried to investigate. They came upon a clearing where a figure was shooting beams of lasers at the creature.

Red Ranger gaped and pointed. "Is that..."

Blue Ranger growled in fury. "It is. Green Ranger. That traitor!"

The Green Solar Ranger looked up and did a double take. He clenched his fist and pointed at his former team-mates dramatically.

"Oh. It's you losers. Stay out of my way."

"Green, surrender now, and you might end up going to jail alive." Black threatened, raising a glowing sword of light.

Green Ranger gave them the one fingered salute.

"Okay." Red Ranger shrugged and fired a beam of crimson light at the Green Ranger, but the other Ranger dropped into a roll and stood up a couple feet away, firing back with his raygun.

The Solar Rangers leapt aside as the deadly lasers peppered holes in the ground behind them.

Red Ranger looked back up and noticed that the Green Ranger was dodging the waves of fire that the now much larger creature was throwing around. The girl he was carrying was hiding behind a tree.

He pointed towards Pink Ranger. "Pink Ranger! Secure the civilian!"

"Hai!"

He turned back to the fight, only to see the creature suddenly grew a long serpentine tail, which he used to wrap around the Green Ranger that had just teleported behind him.

With lightning speed, the creature brought Green to his front and sank his really thick talons into the Ranger, who grunted in pain.

Red Ranger was conflicted now. On one hand, he should probably stop a murder that's happening. On the other hand, the Green Ranger might finally die and remove the taint on the reputation of the Solar Rangers.

"Red…" Blue began.

"Shut up, Blue. Don't ruin this for me."

The creature suddenly roared and tore Green Ranger apart in a spray of intestines and organs. He turned to glare at the rest of the Solar Ranger.

It didn't escape Red's attention that the creature now sported two bumps on its shoulders- was that wings?

Pink Ranger jogged back from where the half-naked civilian was and nodded at him. "The civilian claims that the creature is her boyfriend and is protecting her from kidnappers."

Red thought about this for a bit. He held up a thumb.

"Cool. So not the bad guys. Do they need an ambulance?"

"I think so. She seems to be in shock."

Red raised his arms in the surrender position and began to walk towards the creature. Hopefully they could get it to calm down a bit- it was just attacked by a Ranger after all, it would be bad if it decided that all Super Sentai were the bad guys.

Then he had a crazy idea. He turned to Blue who was in a classic Kamehameha position facing the creature, just in case.

"Hey Blue."

"Yeah, Red?"

"I think we finally found a replacement for Green."

* * *

There are actually songs in the original versions of these in creative writing forums.


	9. Love so Pure

A/N: And now for the further adventures of Oni Lee. Kenta and Annette will continue next chapter.

 **Chapter 9: Love so Pure**

 **2011, Brockton Bay**

Kai Lee entered the strangely clean and large supermarket. The airconditioning was a surprise, as well as the large amounts of white people. He supposed that only made sense because he was shopping at a typical supermarket and not some Chinese grocery store in Chinatown.

He made his way into this strange and foreign part of Brockton Bay in order to acquire items that were otherwise impossible in the land of bok choy and soy sauce: Italian Food.

He picked up another packet of spaghetti and some rotini and put in his large shopping cart. He glanced around casually down the aisle and spotted the back of a small mousy woman pushing a cart down the dairy section. He noted there was a small baby sitting in the baby seat of the cart. If the baby was anything to go by, the mother probably had good genes.

Not that he understood what good genes are- according to the movies and TV shows he watched, they were probably blonde and had big breasts and married to powerful Dons. Or they were Asian women who were conservative and further the honour of their husband or father's criminal enterprises.

It was so disappointing then, that generally nobody in Chinatown was a Yakuza's wife or daughter- well, plenty were the female kin of ABB gang members, but their overall image was unbecoming of a proper gangster- where was the majesty and determination required of a proper gangster's wife? Most gangsters were more or less just thugs and their womenfolk were unrefined and common.

Unacceptable.

"Stop, thief!'

A grocery clerk was chasing after a homeless man- merchant scum?- who was running down the dairy section with a sack of money. The likely not sober man was irrationally running further into the supermarket instead of heading for the exit like a proper criminal.

Kai Lee shook his head in further disappointment.

The thief shoulder checked the mousy woman, knocking the carton of soymilk she was looking at out of her hands. He tripped during the altercation, crashing into her shopping cart with a yelp of "motherfucker.". The baby began to cry at the sudden movement (or the uncouth language, Lee wasn't an expert on babies) and the cart roll down the aisle at a dangerous speed.

The mousy woman screamed, "Aster!"

Lee was already moving. He really didn't know why. Proper Mafioso or Yakuzas generally do not save babies, but he felt compelled by some part of himself- something that still retained a sense of humanity and not staring at walls until the birds came home to roost- to rush towards the speeding cart.

He grabbed it with his left hand and halted its movement, while his other hand reached out to steady the baby. The little baby girl was crying, and he immediately began rubbing her back trying to calm her down.

The woman had shoved the thief away from her with surprising strength and rushed over to the cart and her baby. She walked right over and immediately picked up her child, hugging her close and sighing in relief.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much!" She turned to Lee while thanking him. Then froze when she saw his face, her own expression twisting into one of veiled fear and disgust.

 **[Song plays: Pop! Goes my Heart, Music & Lyrics OST]**

Kai Lee however, noticed none of those things. Because the brown eyes staring back at him was gorgeous. Like the bottom of a well crafted clay teacup filled with the purest of white tea. Also it reminded him strongly of the dry and rusting blood of slain enemies.

He could hear his heart beating. It was the only sound he could hear as time seemed to ground to a stop.

Pressure began to build in his head until he could feel a headache coming on. He was experiencing….emotions he couldn't understand or explain.

He only ever felt close to this way when he was singing Hokkien songs at the local KTV or Karaoke. What was wrong with him? She wasn't a song. Was she?

He looked away from the eyes and saw the rest of her face. And her body. He felt his mouth go dry at her sharp heart shaped face and her small nose. Her face and her body and her posture- was the very picture of a Yamato Nadeshiko- the beautiful wildflower of Japanese femininity. She was like the blade of samurai, drawn at dawn, reflecting the pure light of Amaterasu-ōmikami. Or a celestial nymph who descended from the heavens as a falling star.

Lee, stop! Gangsters don't recite poetry.

He felt his heart beating faster. What was this reaction? It was so familiar, so ancient...it was like...like...like youth. Like the highest peak of the Jade Mountains of Taiwan, where after climbing it for a couple of days, one really feel their heart straining at the high altitude. He was having trouble breathing as well.

What is this feeling that is at once both foreign and familiar?

Lee tried to smile. It came across as a smirk. He must not have done it right, cause the woman took a step back and took a defensive position. Odd response to someone who saved your baby's life, he thought, but he approved- woman who knew how to fight would make a proper gangster's wife and proper wildflowers have thorns.

The woman took another step back and nodded to him in what appeared to be a small bow. "T-thank you saving my daughter. Goodbye."

She finished displaying her gratitude rather quickly- Lee wondered if this was a white people thing- and turned to leave.

"Wait." Lee called out. She froze mid step and turned back to look at him...with those gorgeous dreamy eyes.

Kai gestured to the cart full of grocery items that he still held with one hand and simply said. "Your cart."

"Right." The woman said and quickly hurried back to grab it- for a brief moment their fingers touched- it was electrifying. Lee shuddered.

She hurriedly dragged her cart away with one hand- at a pace that pushed the boundaries of politeness, her other hand on her daughter.

The supermarket security was already dragging away the would-be-thief, likely he would end up in police custody soon. Lee didn't care much for what was probably merchant scum. Or a really poor and desperate starving transient. Well, cry him crocodile tears- real gangsters don't have feelings.

They only have ambition. Like staring at walls- which was stupid.

Wait. Why is staring at walls stupid? It's amazing.

He walked away, questioning his hobbies and more importantly, wondering why he was feeling all of these things he had forgotten he could feel.

Once more, the shape of her came into his mind's eye. He smiled at the image, closing his eyes briefly.

He did realize one thing. Whoever her husband was, he did not deserve this...this MILF.

* * *

Kayden Russels hurriedly pay for her grocery and pushed her cart out of the supermarket into the parking lot.

That close encounter with the merchant scum had almost made her reveal her secret identity in the middle of the grocery store. She did not need that kind of scrutiny since it was almost certain that the market had cameras everywhere and the Protectorate would be onto that like moth to flames.

And that strangely stoic, highly disciplined and well groomed chink….he saved Aster. Well, maybe Aster would have been fine regardless, but he stopped that cart. And the way his hand steadied Aster, who immediately calm down.

It tickled at her maternal instincts. She couldn't recall Max ever once holding Aster with even a fraction of the care and love that the yellow stranger had.

Maybe the subhuman races weren't so bad. Max was wrong about needing to rule over the other races, just like he was wrong about the need to break the law in order to further the interest of the white race.

Kayden got into her car after securing Aster to the baby seat. As she drove away, she thought to herself that maybe, whites and the lesser races could live together in peace.

She had felt incredibly happy that her ex-husband Max was in a coma and the Empire had so many capes that was either severely injured or under arrest that there was no way she could be pressured into doing anything for them.

Better yet, the spectre of the legal power that Max could employ to take away her baby had been removed literally overnight...she was unexpectedly and begrudgingly thankful to Oni Lee and Bakuda. When all was said and done, even for chinks, they had made her life more secure.

Yes, she could tolerate the lesser races. Or maybe just the yellow ones. Skidmark, if he was representative of niggers was definitely not a race she want Aster to associate with when she grew up. Or the gays, because she didn't want Aster to become infected and become a lesbian.

Years later, happily remarried to a man of a "lesser race", she would look back and wonder how she had been so blind about life and it's possibilities.


	10. Have Fate

**Chapter 10: Have Fate**

 **1975, Brockton Bay**

"Push!" The doctor encouraged, and Margaret Rose gave a great cry as a child's cry filled the room.

"It's a girl. Congratulations!"

No one in that room- not the mother, not the doctor or the nurses or even the newly born Annette Rose herself- knew that at the precise moment of her birth, in a nearby Joss House in the local Chinatown, a statue of Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Eight Immortals, dropped to the floor startling nearby worshippers and visitors.

The caretaker and local Taoist priest of the Joss House exclaimed rather loudly. "Ah, this is a sign. An avatar or agent of Zhang Guo Lao has descended into the world."

He picked up the statue- an old man wielding a staff with a gourd on it- and placed it back on its proper place next to the Tutelary Deity, Tudigong.

Few of the witnesses believed- but some did, and they prayed for the protection of his avatar in this world.

* * *

 **Same Time, China**

The Yellow River uncharacteristically turned clear and a fisherman told his son. "They say that when the Yellow River turns clear, it means a holy being is born into the world."

"But, why is there blood in the water, father?"

The older man turned back to the river, and sure enough, a streak of red flowed through the most important river of the Chinese world.

"That…I am not sure. But I think it meant this holy being will sacrifice much."

1992, Kyushu

"Goodbye Percy." Annette said as she scatter her brother's ashes into the pacific wind and sea. Kenta stood respectfully behind her while several of Percival's coworkers stood a short distance away, heads bowed.

She was the only family member that attended, her mother and stepfather having deemed the expenses of traveling overseas too bothersome, much to her chagrin and fury.

Thankfully, the funeral was paid for by DRAGLE, her brother's company- they handled all of the arrangements to their utmost ability. Percy was a high ranking negotiator for the global corporation after all.

* * *

Kenta watched as Annette giggled when Kaasan joked about something with her. He figured it was best that he did not know about it seeing as it was probably about him.

It was weeks later after their escape from their kidnappers and they had mostly recovered. Something had changed between Annette and him- during that entire trial, they had a new unspoken understanding, but neither of them had seen fit to broach the subject.

Today though, he had invited Annette-chan to visit his mother with him, and she has unsurprisingly agreed. She certainly dressed to impress- he glanced over at Annette's conservative blouse and skirt, still fashionable, but without implying impropriety. Almost like she wanted his mother's approval. Kenta wasn't sure how to feel about that.

He fished out his wallet and looked over the business card that the Red Solar Ranger (oh my god, oh my god) handed him after the entire debacle over their kidnapping and...and his gaining superpowers- he shuddered at the half-remembered memories.

He remembered the woman in black, with the fedora and her ominous words: "You have a destiny Kenta Kikuchi." What did she meant by that, precisely? And the cocaine- oh god the cocaine- he definitely overdosed on the first go, if he had to guess, he didn't feel any addictive properties thanks to his newfound metabolism. Spontaneous regeneration to an absurd degree. He also remembered himself dying, slowing destroyed and ground into nothing, helpless to do anything to save himself or Annette. That was not a pleasant experience and he would do nearly anything to avoid having to experience that kind of helplessness and anger again.

He pocketed the card again. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with their offer to join the Solar Rangers. His childhood heroes. The official hero team of their city and hometown. Renowned throughout Kyushu for their heroics. Sure, Green Ranger going traitor had apparently been a big thing a couple years back, he was too young to care too much about it at the time, and all the adults didn't want to talk about it around him because Green Ranger was his favourite super sentai as a toddler according to his mom.

And he killed Green Ranger too. That was….awkward for Kenta to say the least. Killing my childhood hero and idol. I might as well go full villain now.

He suddenly felt a bit tired from all his thinking and he got up with a scrape of his metal chair. Kaasan and Annette-chan turned to look at him and he waved his hand to indicate that there wasn't any kind of emergency.

"Just grabbing a cup of coffee- do you want anything, Kaasan, Annette-chan?"

"No I am fine, Kenta-kun."

"I'm good."

He nodded and walked out. There was a nice café at the ground floor and he actually liked their Americano. Black of course. Real man drink black.

* * *

As soon as the door closed behind Kenta, Annette turned back to his mother, who grinned up at her.

"Well, I guess with the man out of the room, we can talk about some real things now."

Annette knew that was coming, but she gulped nervously nevertheless and nodded her head.

"H-hai, Kaasan."

Oh god, she was already calling Kenta's mother Kaasan too.

Kaasan continued. "I've seen the way you look at Kenta when you think he isn't looking. I like the way you look at him. That's the kind of a look I like girls to be giving my son."

Annette could only blush as feel her face grow red with embarrassment. To be fair, it was hard not to look at Kenta. He had changed in his mind from "mildly dreamy bad boy" to full blown Knight in Shining Army who was also a literal dragon.

"I am not sure what to say, Kaasan."

The older woman smiled and reached a hand out to grasp Annette's own. "You don't have to say anything. I am just curious as to why Kenta didn't introduce you as his girlfriend."

"Uh…"

"I think in your head, you already decided that he is your boyfriend, yes?"

Annette turned redder than she already was.

Kaasan smiled knowingly, and with the wisdom of ages, laid down the law. "Talk to him about that. Soon. Don't let opportunities go to waste, trust me, or you'll regret it all your lives."

Annette could only nod her head. "Hai, Kaasan."

* * *

Neither of them broach the subject about their changed feelings for each other the next week either.

As Annette tried to sleep one night however, she found herself turning Kaasan's words over and over again in her head.

She sighed. It wasn't that simple. With Percival…gone…her time in Japan was coming to an end. His company had paid for her stay in Japan the past month so she could handle his funerary details, but soon she would have to go.

She would have to leave Kenta.

She gripped her blanket in anxiety as she thought about being so far away from him. Who would protect her? Who would keep her safe from her nightmares?

Who would she even banter with?

She tossed and turn, mulling things. Until suddenly, out of nowhere, she remembered her birthday was next week.

I am an adult now. I can make my own decisions. What good ever came of listening to my mother anyway?

She could live by herself, if she really wanted to.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

And she was determined to stay to be with her man. And with that decision made came another decision, lurking underneath the surface of thoughts daily that she hadn't dared entertained until now.

Glancing quickly at the time on her phone, she decided that yes…if she ran she could make the last train.

She scrambled out of bed and hurriedly threw on some clothes.

As she jogged out of her apartment and towards the train station, she spoke to herself out loud. "Oh god, I hope I am not making a horrible mistake."

 **[Song Plays: Best Mistake I Ever Made by Joana Wang]**

* * *

Kenta couldn't sleep.

Soon, Annette will go back to America.

He had no means, no money, and no ability to survive in America. Even if she…even if she wanted him to be with her for real, he had no way to follow where she will go.

He turned over the business card from the Solar Rangers again. He could join up, make some money, but he would have to stay here in Japan…it would be years before he could see her again.

He muttered to his empty room in frustration. "Life is so complicated."

His phone rang. Who could be calling me at this hour?

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

Annette's voice came through loud and clear. "Kenta-kun. I am outside your doorstep. Open the door dammit, it's cold out!"

"You're what!?"

Kenta hurried out of his room, forgetting to dress and unlocked the front door, ripping it open…

The most perfect woman in the world stood in front of her, her grey eyes shining underneath the moonlight.

"Annette-chan."

"Kenta-kun."

He scratched his head. "Uh, come in."

After closing the door, he turned to look at her- she was wearing a light jacket, and…was that her pajamas?

"Did you even change before you came here?"

She looked sheepish. "I had to catch the last train. There wasn't any time." A pause and then she scolded him. "And thanks for the view- nice boxers."

Kenta blushed and then asked the obvious question, however in truth, he already knew why she was here- her eyes said it all. "Um. Why are you here?

Did you need to talk about something? You know we don't exactly have a guest room, I suppose you could take a cab-"

"Kenta." Her eyes shine brighter. "There's a lot of things we need to talk about."

She paused and brushed a hair out the way of her perfect nose. "But I have no idea how to even start."

Kenta grimaced. They had avoided broaching the subject of their deepening feelings. Or Kenta thought they were- it was hard to tell if his feelings were one sided or not. They didn't talk about it- and it drives him nuts trying to figure out just where her feelings lay.

"Annette-chan…I…yeah this talk is overdue."

Annette took a step closer to him. "Kenta-kun. I-"

She struggled for the right words and seemed resigned. "Fuck it. I don't know how to express myself. Just fuck me already."

Wait what?

Her lips crashed into his, followed moments later by her body and her arms. Kenta didn't need prompting twice, he quickly wrap an arm around her waist and pulled her towards his room.

* * *

For awhile they sat there on his bed kissing. No words was needed. It was clear enough that the most essential question on their minds was answered. The rest could wait…could wait until what they both wanted was over and done with.

She grabbed his hand and encouraged him to roam. "Kenta-kun."

God her voice. It's perfect.

They watched each other's eyes, reveling in the confirmation of their mutual feelings. He pushed her down onto the bed and unbutton her shirt.

Her breathing hitched as she tugged at his boxer- the sole article of clothing he conveniently had on.

"Annette-chan…are you sure…I mean."

"Kenta- I swear to god, if you stop now, I will kill you."

In response he hiked up her skirt much to her joy.

* * *

A much sweatier Annette rolled over and panted. She wrapped her arms around her lover and smiled up at him.

"Not bad for my first time, I think." She grinned.

"Aye. Same here." Kenta smiled back.

"Wait. You're a virgin?"

"I was." Kenta corrected. He pouted at her. "At least, until a gaijin vixen had her way with me."

"Yes, and don't you forget it, but still, the bancho was a virgin. I am shocked."

He nodded. "You'd be surprised at how much common sense girls in our school have. Much to my chagrin."

She punched him lightly on the chest. "Well…good. I don't have to choke any bitches or piss on them to mark my territory."

"Well, as long as you don't piss on me to mark your territory, it's all good." Kenta dryly commented.

He rolled over suddenly and was straddling her. She raised an eyebrow. "So soon? I might have scored more than I realized if your recovery is that quick."

Kenta scowled. "Er, not exactly. But Annette." He leaned closer. "I am going to accept the Solar Ranger's offer to take up the Green Ranger mantle. The pay is very good, I can afford my own apartment."

She nodded, afraid of what he was going to say next.

"Well…stay." He continued.

Her breath hitched.

"Stay and live with me. We can start a life together." He locked gazes with her as he said so, his face only inches from her own.

She cried.

"Uh." Kenta started to become worried he said something wrong.

"Baka, I am happy. I was so afraid I would have to return to America."

She closed the gap and kissed him.

They didn't get much sleep that night and Annette was quite enthusiastic in showing how happy she was at the conclusions of their "talk."

* * *

A sleepy but quite satisfied Kenta and Annette sat opposite each other at the breakfast table the next morning, eating some light toast with eggs and sausages.

Daichi, Kenta's older brother suddenly showed and headed straight for the coffee machine. He didn't even bat an eye regarding Annette's presence.

However, when Daichi sat down at the table, he looked at the both of them and casually said. "So…next time, you guys might want to warn me ahead of time so I can get earmuffs. God you guys were loud."

Kenta blushed and Annette looked mortified.

"Oh God." She covered her face with both of her hands.

Daichi took a ship of his Joe casually, grabbing the morning papers and then drove the nail home.

"And I hope you guys used contraception."

Kenta paled. "Oh shit."

"Oh God, kill me." Annette moaned.

His brother ignored them and commented on the front page news item. "Well, to no one's surprise, Yamaguchi Zaibatsu's stocks are dropping like bricks. Given the very public evidence of their facilities being used for criminal activities- and the whole illegal death porn operation they had going, this is no surprise."

He grinned and slapped Kenta on the back. "My gang is actually really impressed. You two did more damage to the Yamaguchi backed gang in a single day than we had done for the past decade. My bosses consider ourselves indebted to you- so if you need any favours or any bodies to dispose of, let me know."

Daichi left for work quickly. There was about a minute of silence, and the litanies of regret continued.

"Oh God, how could I be so stupid."

"Oh God, I am pregnant!"

* * *

To Annette's great relief, after a month, she was certain that she was not pregnant because she still had her periods. All was right with the world.

She had benched Kenta out of necessity, much to his frustration. And her own. They make do with every base but the fourth- but it was difficult to control what your emotions wanted you to do. Really, it's not like people start making out and decided that "tonight we're doing this specific position."

Afterwards, she started on a birth control regimen via pills shortly thereafter. It took another month for her to be certain it was doing its job.

In that time, they managed to move into Kenta's new apartment- generously given as a signing bonus with the Solar Rangers. Their managers quite accurately understood that Kenta was the Solar Ranger's ticket to the big leagues. His power was SS-Tier, and they were determined to keep him happy.

As she settled down into her new Lay-Z-Boy and sighed contently. Kenta should just be getting off of his press release to the public- it was always a big deal whenever a new hero was revealed, whether Protectorate or Sentai.

She happily sent her first ever booty call via text: FOURTH BASE AVAILABLE NOW.

Kenta replied a mere second later: CMING.

She cheekily replied with: ME FIRST.

* * *

 **1993, Kyushu**

Annette was in the University library, looking up East-Asian literary sources on supernatural entities and magic when Kenta ambushed her with kisses.

"Kenta!"

He had a hand up her shirt before she managed to pull her face away from his own long enough to point desperately towards the Disability Bathroom.

"Wow. Really?" Kenta said. She growled and dragged him in anyway.

Not two minutes later, a frustrated Kenta emerged, running for the exit. An emergency had come up- some asshole supervillain was robbing a bank. Kenta vowed to beat him senseless for cockblocking him.

Annette meekly came out seconds later, shifting her skirt back into place. Suddenly, she noticed that there were people who saw the whole thing. A couple Japanese students was staring at her, mouth open in shocked outrage.

"Not a word." Annette warned before stalking off, thoughts of research forgotten. She paused mid step and turned back to them. "And he had an emergency. He wasn't done in two minutes and I didn't scare him off, so don't you go thinking strange things about other people's sex lives. We're perfectly fine!"

* * *

 **1993, NANKING**

The eunuch and last of a great lineage stared at the documents that his agent had handed him.

"You are certain, then?" He asked, staring at his nervous subordinate, who wore a business suit.

"Yes, Li Gong-Gong. We have all the key positions compromised. The plan is now green."

Li Gong-Gong chuckled and threw the document back onto the table. "We have them all in our pockets. This invasion will be easy."

It was time to bring the Land of the Rising Sun into the fold of Middle Kingdom. And to subsume their parahuman resources for their own.

The Yanbang program was the backbone of the C.U.I. success story. They conditioned any parahumans they capture and exterminated those they could not control- sparing no one, not even children and close families. Anyone could carry the taint that seemed to spread though memetic close contact.

Li Gong-Gong was from one of the Old Families. He could taste the unnaturalness of parahumanity, their foul and alien qi offended him more than the white menace. But they made useful tools.

Absolute control was the only way to maintain the power of the current dynasty, who's Emperor was a mere child and to prevent China from breaking

apart into further civil war.

The Seven Year Civil War since the first parahumans appeared, along with Behemoth's attacks, had nearly destroyed China, reducing its population down to mere hundreds of millions. That could not be allowed to happen again.

Another reason of course, was that an external enemy was necessary to maintain political unity, it's also an easy sell to the public- much easier than explaining complex sociological and economic problems anyway. And what enemy was easier to sell than the hated Japanese dogs?

The pale faced gong-gong, supreme commander of the Yanbang, laughed maniacally at his own brilliance. His shadows stretched unnaturally as he walked away.


	11. Without Destiny

**Chapter 11: Without Destiny**

 _Have Fate Without Destiny (有緣無份) is a Chinese Proverb on how karma brings together relationships, but free will determines where it shall go. In this case, to have fate means that a couple will encounter each other, and without destiny means they will not end up together._

\- Annette Hebert, PhD. _The Dynamics of East-Asian Cultural Ethos_

* * *

 **1993, Tokyo**

The large transport craft hovered over the City of Tokyo, directly above the Imperial Palace. As Chinese soldiers storm the holy grounds, gunning down palace staff and security officers as they go, a lone eunuch serenely waltzed over into the inner sanctum of the Emperor of Japan.

When he entered the private area of the Imperial Family, he saw the aged Akihito calmly standing before the corpses of his entire family. By the looks of it, mothers smothered their children, and fathers slit the throat of their wives. The menfolk had then committed seppuku.

The Eunuch made an approving noise. "So, you had them commit suicide. Noble, and traditional. I respect that, Heika."

The Emperor of Japan turned around and glared at the leader of the Yangban. "It was better than letting them fall into your hands, Master Li. I am surprised that you're still alive."

"Being made an eunuch through sorcerous ritual has its advantages."

"Your practice of that black art is most foul. The Old Families would disapprove."

"They waste their power doing petty tricks, fearful of seizing true power. The age of the old ways are done, heika. Your father and that Hitler boy made a last attempt at ascension- but how did that go for Japan? Cowed and humiliated before the white men, who burned your cities, raped your women and indoctrinated your children. Pathetic."

The two scions of the Old Families stared each other down, before Akihito calmly walked over to an altar. Upon the altar was a familiar package.

Li Gong-Gong's breath hitched. "Oh my. That is the real artifact isn't it, not like that fake you peddle for the masses and guard over by ignorant priests."

"I had the sword transferred from its hiding place when I felt your Ki entering Japan's threshold." Akihito replied as he opened the package and withdrew the almost primitive Neolithic era sword, fashioned from white metal.

Li Gong-Gong nodded his head. "The Yamato Dynasty is the absolute master of the Home Islands, none can dispute this. Still, the Chrysanthemum Throne has weakened as of late, do you think you can face me, boy?"

"Against an Apostate like you?" Akihito gripped the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by the hilt and shifted into a stance. "Easily."

With a burst of impossible speed, he stepped forward and brought the ancient weapon down upon the Eunuch, who immediately sidestepped with preternatural agility. His long nails reached up and deflected the chipped edge of the blade, sending green sparks sizzling into the air between the two.

"I do this for the greater good." Li Gong-Gong explained as he rolled quickly to avoid a swipe of the deadly blade. "The parahuman parasites must be controlled."

"A sound argument, if one ignored the fact you have set yourself on this dark path for centuries."

"Short-lived men like you, Akihito, do not grasp the nobility of the path I walk."

Akihito gritted his teeth. "Short-lived men like me do not offend against Heaven. The Kami will deal with the outer path entities as they see fit. Who are we mortals to attempt things outside our station?"

Li Gong-Gong laughed. "Idiot. I have practiced sorcery for centuries. I know the truth that you short-lived fools will never understand."

He caught the edge of the Kusanagi with two fingers and tore the blade from the Emperor's hand.

He quickly turned the blade around and stabbed Akihito in the heart. As the Emperor sank to his knees, the Eunuch leaned in and told him the truth.

"Gods don't exist."

He walked over the dying corpse, pleased with his prize. The sword that cut the burning grass shall make a great ritual tool indeed.

As he left, great gouts of fire exploded from the back of the dead Emperor, incinerating his corpse and those of his family. It blasted through the roofs of the Imperial Palace and lanced across the heavens, creating a phenomenon not dissimilar to the Northern Lights.

Everyone in Tokyo, screaming civilians and fighting soldiers paused to glance at the unusual phenomena. Most did not pay it any mind.

The Gong-Gong paused on the steps outside the palace and muttered. "And thus end the line of Jimmu."

Suddenly, a great Qi shone brightly in the horizon and his eyes widened. He saw a girl- glowing with the power of a trillion stars.

"Impossible!"

* * *

 **1993, Kyushu**

Annette woke with a gasp, panting. It was dark and the light breathing of Kenta suddenly cut off as he woke up as well.

"Annette-chan?" Kenta's comforting arms wrapped around her. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine." She said, patting his arm. "Just a bad dream."

* * *

The television broadcast begin and his voice was heard throughout Japan and beyond.

"People of Japan, this is acting Prime Minister, Kaneda Hasashi. I am the last surviving member of Prime Minister Genbu's cabinet, which was completely annihilated.

"We did our best, but there is no longer any point in resisting. As of a hour ago, I negotiated for the surrender of Japan to the Chinese-Union Imperial. They have generously promised to protect many of our rights and privileges and to respect our autonomy where possible.

"I ask that all Japanese military forces and parahuman elements to stand down. Let us not fall to the level of the common terrorist- we can be civilized about this. Nothing will change- you will still wake up and keep your jobs. You will still have a life and our beautiful Japan shall be here and now, forever.

"All parahuman elements, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, sex or age are to report to the nearest authorities for transfer of command to the C.U.I. unfortunately, this is non-negotiable. For the sake of your country and your family and friends, I beg you to surrender yourselves. For parents with parahuman children, you must hand your children over immediately, or find yourself in violation of the law.

"And finally- all foreign nationals that are not Japanese or Chinese or could reasonably claim descent from either must report to the nearest authorities. You are hereby expelled from Japan. You have a month to put your affairs in order.

"Japanese who have the ability to migrate to other nations may choose to do so, you have a month to put your affairs in order before your citizenship is permanently transferred to the C.U.I. Please speak to the Ministry of Immigration for details regarding how this shall be done. Parahumans are forbidding from migrating- they must report to the authorities for assignment to the Yangban. Again. I urge you to not resist. That is all. Huang Shang Banzai! (Ten-Thousand Years to the Emperor of China!)."

* * *

"Your puppet does an excellent job, Gong-Gong. The Japanese commoners are accustomed to authority, see how they hasten to obey, trusting us absolutely. It would be sad if it weren't to our advantage" The Japanese Business man spoke with approval. He was seated in a small conference room, surrounded by other powerful Japanese men and women. Amongst them were generals and admirals, business tycoons, bankers, lawyers, lawmakers and yakuza members.

The Gong-Gong sat at the head of the table and smiled at the shadow government he assembled to rule Japan. They had all been subverted slowly over the years, agreeing to betray the security of Japan in order to hand it over to C.U.I. All of them would live like Kings. They would have more power than they would know what to do with.

Inwardly however, he was extremely anxious. His attempts to locate the source of the mysterious qi had turned up blank. He knew however, it was somewhere near Kyushu, so he had his agents scouring the island for anything unusual.

Could another Scion of the Old Families be hiding there? No, that qi is not human.

It also wasn't parahuman. It dwarfed even Scion. The Gong-Gong had seen the Golden Man just the once when it flew over Beijing to rescue a stray dog from being run over by a car. The qi of that abomination disgusted him- by all accounts it was a terrifying energy, however it was so scattered.

If the Gong-Gong could compare Scion's Qi to any other being, it would be the mosquito. The mosquito was supposedly a creature that contained only a fragment of the human soul. A damned soul subject to a mosquito rebirth, according to scripture, was divided into thousands if not millions of fragments, with each shard being reborn as one mosquito. Only when every single mosquito that it was reincarnated into has died could its soul be reconstituted into a whole.

Scion was like that mosquito, a massively alien, but ultimately pathetic lifeform. A gestalt existence that emulated the functions of a higher lifeform by layering millions of weak, simple, animal qi together.

The average parahuman, although carrying pieces of Scion, emit a stronger and more vital Qi. Humans, although simple in comparison, had a broader depth of experience and emotions- they had a stronger mass of qi. Scion was like that same mass of qi, but stretched over a vast expanse of space. Seemingly stronger, but actually very frail.

Take Scion apart and he was basically a mosquito. He was a cosmic joke and the Gong-Gong will see him crushed. Unfortunately, although a joke he may be, he was still very dangerous. A stretched ore of iron can still make a sword. And a sword was much more dangerous than an ore.

Parasites can kill much larger animals- and Scion was the sort of parasite that could threaten the entire world despite having the spiritual essence of an insect.

If he could locate the source of that mysterious qi, he would be able to destroy Scion, he was certain of it. After all, who but he have the experience to save the world? He was unmatched in sorcery- did not the now extinct Old Families proved this, each one falling to his power in their turn? He was the last of the Old Families. He would be the Master of Mankind. It was his destiny!

The Gong-Gong grabbed a nearby mosquito out of the air with movement too quick for the mortals in front of him to follow, and squished it as he listened to his shadow government explain ongoing operations. A Japanese media executive described the successes he has been having with news broadcasts designed to sell the current situation to the average Japanese.

* * *

Kenta came home with a grin and showed Annette a document. "I am approved, thanks to your help. My mother's application is still going through, but there's no reason they will reject us."

His girlfriend nodded. "Good. If it comes down to it, I'll marry you. That'll speed up things on the American end. The sooner we leave the better, if they start asking your coworkers or your managers, they'll catch you."

"Yeah, my entire team went underground, we're all passing as civilians and our former managers have agreed to keep their mouth shut."

Annette was uncomfortable with that. If even one Solar Ranger was captured by the Yangban or if Kenta's managers talked…

"I trust them. It'll be fine, Annette."

"Maybe we can ask Daichi to silence your managers."

Kenta looked aghast at the suggestion. "What!? No, don't even joke about that Annette."

"I wasn't joking. I will do anything to protect you." She looked him in the eye and begin to cry. "I can't lose you."

Kenta grabbed Annette and pulled her frame to his chest, hugging her with his whole being, resting his head over her own, and their cheeks touching. They stayed like for several minutes, savouring in the warmth they provided each other in these uncertain times.

Kenta Annette broke apart and frowned. "It's so annoying that I can't use my credit card. They froze the accounts of the parahumans. Luckily, they keep a separate account for parahumans, or my identity would be blown."

Annette's face paled. "Kenta, they have ways of tracing where your money goes- and if they see that the Green Solar Ranger has been transferring his money to your civilian account."

Kenta frowned. "The connection goes through overseas banks- and the C.U.I definitely can't get them to reveal information like that. Even hacking them will bring down the attention of Western Tinkers and Thinkers."

"I don't think the people who invaded Japan on a whim gives two shits about what the West thinks, Kenta-kun."

"Good point. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

* * *

As Kenta slept besides Annette, he reached over into his wallet and pulled out a small diamond ring. It wasn't exactly expensive- but it was the meaning that counted.

I will propose the moment we are safe.

He placed the ring back into his wallet and went to sleep, dreaming of a better future.

* * *

Two days later, Kenta burst into their apartment, panting, eyes wild with panic.

"They got Daichi. We have to go now." Kenta grabbed her arm and pulled her into their room, he quickly went over to the closet and begin to pile clothing into a large suitcase.

"What!?" Annette could only gasp in horror.

"Daichi's gang- they had someone who is in cahoots with the Chinese. He reported about the situation with my trigger- it was all over the news and too well documented. Japanese government records also confirmed a cover up. They dug and figured that we must have something to do with it."

As Annette threw her clothes into the large suitcase they had prepared the other day, she asked the question she dreaded to hear an answer to.

"What about Kaasan. What about Daichi?"

Kenta didn't answer.

"Kenta…"

"We can't help them Annette. We have to survive."

He turned towards her, eyes filled with tears. "Kaasan told us to run. To forget about her if this ever happened. She's not parahuman, she'll be fine."

Annette nodded. They could fight against a literal dystopian government with superhuman agents. It was suicide. She packed faster.

A mere hour later, their apartment was empty.

* * *

It was the fourth day of the two on the run. They slept out in the woods, in a simple tent Kenta had purchased from a local camping store.

"There is talk of boats carrying refugees to Thailand. For a price. A day's walk from here. That's the one we will take."

"Wouldn't they know?"

"The C.U.I haven't found out yet. It's all hush hush."

Annette settled back down. It was hard sleeping these past few days- she never even considered that she would be a refugee. She suddenly felt really bad for all of those refugees fleeing Africa due to parahuman warlords and terrorism.

As she settled in to sleep underneath the full moon however, the sky turned blood red and she felt her breathing slowed…and then stop. All colours begin to drain from the world and all sounds vanished into a damning silence.

She was completely paralyzed. And then suddenly, she stood beside her body. She blinked in confusion and looked down at her unmoving form. Was this some kind of parahuman power? Did I trigger in my sleep?

"What is this?" Her voice was strange, it echoed with an unearthly twang.

She looked down at her translucent hands…and arms and clothes. "What the fuck. Kenta, wake up!"

Her boyfriend did not stir from his slumber. She leaned down to rouse him, but her hands passed right through him.

"What."

Looking closer, she saw that he wasn't breathing either. In fact, nothing was moving. A leaf that was fluttering in the wind had frozen in midair. As if time had stopped.

And then suddenly a great shadow loomed over. She looked up and screamed at the disfigured and flickering entity, whose eyes were flaming and red.

"I FOUND YOU." The entity screeched. "A WHITE BITCH. YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF THE QI YOU CARRY!"

It swooped down and wrapped it's foul energy around her and she screamed as it burned her body.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" It roared, tendrils of black energy began to stab into her- each thrust was like her nerves were being set on fire. The pain was impossible to describe and she felt her throat bled as she screamed her ethereal voice hoarse. She would have pissed herself if she could have done so in her incorporeal state.

"Kenta! Save me."

Her boyfriend- and time itself, remained unresponsive.

* * *

The Gong-Gong shook as he sat cross legged in meditation. He opened his eyes and hollered in glee. "I've found her!"

His astral projection had finally zoned in on the source of that terrifying brilliant Qi, and he would consume it for himself. Raising a clenched fist, he struck at an imaginary opponent and was rewarded with a spring of unbelievable energy.

"The Worm will burn. With this qi I will be the God of the World!"

* * *

As Annette felt herself being tore to shreds- a sudden warmth filled her entire body and a youthful hand reached out to steady her.

"Be calm, Annette."

And with a flourish of his arm, the shadow was cast off of her with a screech. It glared balefully at the interloper and screeched. "YOU DARE, WHO ARE YOU!?"

"A God." Was the interloper's reply before he struck out and assaulted the shadow with a mighty slash. With a burst of prismatic light, the shadow was flung back.

The shadow gave an unearthly howl, screaming about the impossibility of gods and shattered into hundreds of wisps that dispersed into the atmosphere.

Annette sat down beside her frozen body, her legs trembling. She looked at the glowing figure- too bright for her to make out any true details except for the traditional manner of his dress and she managed to stutter out. "What are you?"

"A spirit. Or your disciple. Or your daughter. There are many ways to look at the truth."

She blinked in confusion. "But you're a boy. How can you be my daughter?"

He smiled beatifically at her. "I am a boy now. In my next life I will be a girl."

He raised a hand and she flinched back in fear. It sighed and reassured her, "I will not harm you."

He touched her forehead gently and whispered. "Sleep. It is not yet time to set the plan into motion. The interference of that third-rate sorcerer made me reveal myself to you too soon."

"I don't understand."

"You will understand the sacrifices you must make soon. All is ordained."

And she fell asleep. And forgot her dreams. To make sure, the boy of light withdrew a jade vase and sprinkled drops of water upon her face. "Of the river Lethe," He intoned. "So that you forget that which you are not meant to know."

The boy of light merely looked down at her sadly. "I will see you soon 'oh White Bat, and savour the years we are allotted by fate as mother and child."

* * *

The pale faced eunuch screamed a bloodcurdlingly death cry as he felt his astral projection was tore into shreds by the…the impossible being. His hands clenched and unclenched as his muscles and legs contracted violently and without control, the seizure made him bite his tongues violently.

He lay there gasping and twitching in a seizure, blood pouring from every orifice as the sympathetic backlash of losing his spirit double dealt agonies to his body.

Finally the spasms subsided and the wretched creature that was the Eunuch raise his face, eyes wild with shock and blood pouring from his mouth.

The door burst open and two soldiers ran into the room.

"Gong-Gong! Are you okay?" One bent down to touch him, but was immediately blasted back into a nearby wall. With a slash of his hand, Li split open the skull of the soldier who dared touched him.

"You! Bring me talisman paper and incense."

The soldier didn't need to be told twice- he was well aware of the Eunuch's hobbies and he ran out of the room, sidestepping the body of his dead comrade.

The Gong-Gong managed to climb back up into a lotus position. He will need to clean out the remnants of his tether and patch up his third eye before his Origin Qi flowed out of the gaping spiritual hole in his soul into the Void.

And then suddenly something external attacked his mind while his spiritual defenses were broken.

 **Two Great Beings Spiraled in the Void.**

The Gong-Gong's eyes widened in horror. "Oh fuck-"

 **[DESTINATION]**

 **[AGREEMENT]**

 **[TRAJECTORY]**

 **[AGREEMENT]**

"- no."

The thing that attached to his brain immediately sliced through all his meridians, releasing the precious qi he had gathered over the centuries into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon with a hole. The parasite breached the lower dantian and consumed his second chakra, drinking all of the energy that dealt with reproductive urges and animalistic instincts.

Thankfully, he could feel that his Huns and Pos were still intact, otherwise he would have gone insane from losing vital psychological organs.

He slumped over, foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled up as he triggered and lost a majority of his spiritual power.

Before he lost consciousness, he swore vengeance on that damned white girl for destroying his cultivation efforts so thoroughly.

* * *

"Kenta Kikuchi." A voice said.

Kenta woke up and saw himself surrounded by robed members of the Yangban and several Chinese soldiers, guns trained on him and Annette. In front of them stood a young man with a ponytail.

Kenta immediately tried to throw out a fireball, but nothing happened, he pulled back his arm, staring at his hand in disbelief.

"We have a power nullifier." Pony-Tails said. "You have ran out of options."

He glanced over at the still sleeping Annette and made a gesture. Another soldier approached her and Kenta immediately growled.

"Stop!"

He got up and raise his hands. "I'll come with you. Let her go."

"Why should we? She's a traitor. A filthy white thing that dares help a parahuman escape."

"She was helping me escape. It's my fault."

"Doesn't help her case. Bag her."

Soldiers reached out and grabbed Annette, who woke with a gasp and being to kick and scream.

"Let me go, you bastards!"

The soldier stabbed her with a needle and she fell limp. Kenta roared and tackled the soldier and begin to beat on him.

"Number Five."

A sudden field of purple appeared around Kenta and he was pulled off of the soldier to slam into a nearby tree- then he was flung into the air only to slam down on the ground with a crack. He cried in pain as he felt his spine snap.

His wallet had dropped out while he was in the air and a small metal ring land several feet away. No one noticed.

"You'll live once we remove the nullification of your powers." The leader of the group looked down at him, his face stoic and unsympathetic. He pointed to a nearby soldier. "Bag him."

"Wait- wait." Kenta managed to say through the haze of pain filling his body. "I will do whatever you say. I will obey you. Listen to you. I will serve the C.U.I without question. You won't have any trouble from me."

"We can just condition you."

Kenta was quick with his reply. "My regenerative power counteracts Master Powers and changes to nervous systems. We tested extensively. Trust me, I would be almost impossible to subvert. Let me work for you- willingly. Please."

He was even telling the truth.

There was a pause, and then to his relief the leader said. "And what would you want in exchange?"

"Just let her go."

Pony-tails considered things. "If she tests negative for a Corona Gemma…we will deport her. Otherwise, she will join the Yangban. Bag them."

Black bags were thrown over both of their faces. Soldiers dragged Kenta up and away, while another slung the unconscious Annette over his shoulders.

A diamond ring was left forgotten on the forest floor.

* * *

"Where am I? Where's Kenta? What have you bastards done to him!?"

"Quiet you guilao!" The soldier barked at her as he shoved her towards the boat.

"What are you doing, let me go!" She struggled as the two soldiers pushed her onto the tightly packed ship, full of non-Japanese nationals of all colours and stripes. There were a few Japanese, mostly the spouse of foreigners.

"You are leaving. And never returning, on pain of death."

The ramp sealed shut and the ship began to move away from the harbor.

Annette, still dozy from whatever tranquilizer was in her system moved to the edge and tried to jump overboard, but several of the panicking passengers managed to pull her back before she hurled herself over the rails. Rough hands grabbed onto her even as she struggled to get closer.

"Are you crazy!?" One elderly Korean gentleman scolded her in accented English. "You'll never make it up those piers- they're too high up, and those Chinese bastards would've happily let you drown yourself."

She ignored him and stretched out her free hand towards the port.

Towards Japan.

Towards Kenta.

"Kenta-kun!"

* * *

"Today Kenta Kikuchi dies. From now on until the death in service to the Emperor of China, you are Number Thirty-Nine."

Kenta nodded and bowed his head obediently. To disobey would mean unimaginable torture and possibly death. He was already dead inside. No torture could destroy his soul, but his soul was gone, gone with the woman he loved.

He followed his commanding officer deeper into the underground training facility, freshly built into the sides of a mountain. Before he entered the darkness, he dared looked towards the Pacific through the small slit that barely let in any light.

Towards America.

Towards Annette.

Forgive me. Annette-chan.

Number Thirty-Nine turned away and walked into the shadows.

* * *

 **1999, Kyushu**

Kyushu sank beneath the waves, crashing into the ocean floor with a final thud, a victim of the most epic battle in the world, between a Dragon and a Demon of the Seas.

A small diamond ring floated down and rested on the ocean floor.

A defeated man roared in the surface above as his home was lost forever to the seas. He roar in rage and sprayed fire over the heavens as he failed to save his mother, his city, his island, everyone he knew growing up.

The corpses of several of his Yangban comrades floated in the waves, victims of a ceaseless evil.

He screamed in pain, asking the heavens the question that mortals cannot answer.

 _What was all my sacrifices for?_

Annette. The name came to him. So many years ago, yet the memory was still fresh as that first day, when she ran him over with her bike. Her smell, her voice- the sweet warmth of body, like molten love.

He looked towards the East, across the Pacific. A suicidal distance.

A suicidal distance for anyone but me.

He allowed himself to sink beneath the waves.

And he swam. And swam. Every time he felt like drowning, he failed to die. His body grew gills. He clawed and swam and eventually flew over the surface of the sea.

He destroyed C.U.I aircraft that they sent after him. He was invincible in his full dragon form. And nothing was going to stop him from reuniting with his other half.

Nothing.

* * *

 **2000, Brockton Bay, USA**

She lived in Brockton Bay. So that was where he gunned for. He climbed up out of the West coast and pushed inland, soundly crushing any opposition in his way as marched East, whether villain or hero. He ignored recruitment drives. He fought off all three of the triumvirate at one point or another- they were wise enough to stop chasing him once he was out of the vicinity of major population centres.

Finally, without anyone to fight, his powers began to subside and he returned to the form of a man for the first time in months.

He entered the vicinity of Brockton Bay near the end of December, just after New Years. A joyous time for many families. A time for change. A time to forge a new future, but he was only looking for his past.

He stalked the streets, with no status, no clothing, and no money. But he made do, he assaulted and robbed any gangsters he came across. He slept in a warehouse to pass the time.

He wore only a metal dragon mask that he forged from fallen pieces of his own scale, it wasn't much, but it wouldn't do to have his "secret" identity discovered if he started a life with Annette. It would only endanger her.

The local Asian Gangs were all interested in him, the local Yakuza wanted to recruit him. The other Asian gangs feared him. He ignored them all. When they send men to show him the error of his ways, he showed them their error. Thoroughly.

With a large trench coat on, he stalked the streets, slowly gathering information. The language barrier made it difficult, his English was atrocious, otherwise he would have asked a private detective or the police or someone to find where Annette was.

Is Annette still alive?

And then one night, as he turned a corner onto the Brockton University campus, he saw _her_ waiting outside of a campus library. She was still a distance away, but his superhuman eyesight saw her plain as day.

"Annette." His voice came out cracked, bursting with emotion.

He could scarcely believe it. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, taller, more confident, her hair just as luscious as he remembered falling through his hands. She wore a winter jacket and seemed to be waiting for something.

 **[Play Song: We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez]**

As he approached her, snow fell from the sky and a car pulled up. The door opened and a little girl- a toddler, no more than four years old, ran out and charged right towards his lover.

"Mommy!"

His heart froze. He could see the familial resemblance- she had her eyes and her hair. There was no doubt that the child was Annette's.

His breathing became ragged.

A man emerged from the car. He walked over and embraced Annette. Kenta's Annette.

Scales burst from underneath his skin and Kenta forced himself to turn around. The rage was blinding. The feelings of betrayal so deep he could not express it to himself in any coherent fashion.

He raised a hand, heat gathering upon his fingertips. And for the first time ever, he wanted to hurt her. He wanted kill that man and her child and then force himself upon Annette.

 _No! Never! Never her. I can never hurt her._

He found his feet moving.

He turned and disappeared, alone into the Brockton Winter.

* * *

Annette finished hugging her husband, but then felt compelled to looked over- towards the edge of campus. She saw a man in the distance walking away in a trench coat.

"Annette- is something wrong?" Danny looked down at her with concern in his eyes.

She continued staring at the man walking away, his shoulders were so familiar….no, that was her imagination. He was dead. Or brainwashed. She knew that.

She force herself to turn back and smile at her husband. "N-nothing, Danny. Nothing is wrong." The lie came easily. She would feel guilty about it later.

She hooked her hand with Taylor's, and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. He returned the gesture and the family of three walked towards their car.

* * *

In the following years, Annette Hebert would often gaze at a certain Green Solar Ranger action figure on her writing desk and ponder if that new Parahuman Warlord, Lung was the man she once knew. Kenta to her knowledge grew no wings, let alone four and never reached the titanic sizes that the Dragon of Kyushu was supposed to have done.

She often wondered, but she couldn't exactly walk up into the middle of ABB territory and ask to speak to their leader.

And she didn't dare to because she didn't know what she would do if Kenta was in front of her.

As she sleep besides Danny at night, she would often feel guilty for thinking of Kenta in the introspective moments when her thoughts were alone in her head. Danny knew about her previous lover- and the tragedy of that. He knew she still loved him. But Danny also never doubted her feelings for her husband either, so that only made it worse.

No, it was best for the past to stay dead. She was a mother and a wife now, she had responsibilities and obligations and a life. Let sleeping corpses lie where they rest.

And then one day, she unexpectedly died to an old grudge.

* * *

 _The Elder Zhang Guo was referred to as a white primordial bat who flew out of the chaos- in this way, he is an avatar of the Tao itself. Zhang Guo Lao was THE great necromancer who made death frivolous and wilted flowers and resurrected the dead at a whim. He frequented the courts of the Tang Dynasty, although he was supposedly several centuries old by then. He was also supposedly the Grand Minister of Sage Emperor Yao in another life. Although popular folklore decreed that he was an Immortal Xian, a student of Sinic folklore should remember that the original etymology of Xian referred to spiritual enlightenment rather than literal immortality. Their ability to bypass death and violate the laws of nature are not inherent to their spiritual value, they are Xian because of who they are, not what they are, in the same way that Parahumans powers do not confer upon the worthy- anyone can be a parahuman. The conflation of power with virtue is flawed._

\- Annette Hebert, PhD. _Separation of Power and Virtue: A Taoist Perspective_

* * *

A/N: Enter the Xianxia! Surprise! xD


End file.
